Officials say no need to close schools with Covid cases, measures already in place

A Public Health Ministry official says there’s no need to close schools where Covid-19 infections are found as effective measures are already in place. According to a Bangkok Post report, Sumanee Wacharasin says nearly all schools have passed a Covid-19 control evaluation, which checks their disease prevention measures. Furthermore, 95% of students over the age of 12 have now received their first Covid-19 vaccine, while 70% are fully inoculated.

Sumanee says school staff are also vaccinated and schools have implemented Covid-19 response measures, including temporarily closing individual rooms where infections have been reported.

“Under these circumstances, it is unnecessary to completely close any school because of Covid-19 infection, regardless of the number of cases. Closure would affect the education of students whose studies have already been seriously disrupted over the past 2 years.”

The Thai government has now ordered doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine which has been specifically formulated for children between the ages of 5 and 11. Supplies are expected to arrive later this month or next, and administration of the doses will begin with children aged 11. Health officials will then proceed to younger children in descending order of age. According to Sumanee, the approval process for use of inactivated vaccines in young children is still ongoing. Sinovac and Sinopharm are both examples of inactivated vaccines.

Sumanee says that out of 7,526 local infections reported on January 7, 1,048 were in children under the age of 19. Most had contracted the virus from family members. On Tuesday, schools in 3 provinces reported Covid-19 clusters: 6 in the eastern province of Chanthaburi, 5 in Bangkok, and 2 in the central province of Nonthaburi.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post