Vaccination of over 5 million school students gets underway

The vaccination of Thai school students gets underway today, with over 5 million students expected to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccination drive is in preparation for the new school term in November. According to a Bangkok Post report, students between the ages of 12 and 18 will be vaccinated with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, starting with those in dark red provinces.

However, the report says the Education Ministry is considering giving just 1 dose to boys, due to the risk of a rare side-effect known as myocarditis or inflammation of the heart. To date, there has been just 1 case of this in Thailand, with a 13 year old boy understood to be recovering in hospital.

Meanwhile, the ministry has confirmed a 2-phase plan to enable schools to re-open with strict disease prevention measures in place. In phase 1, boarding schools which have had Covid-19 measures in place since August can re-open. In phase 2, schools where the facilities have been inspected will be allow to re-open for in-classroom learning. The ministry says the inspection of schools will get underway this month and schools will need to have at least 85% of their teachers and other workers vaccinated.

The Bangkok Post reports that schools will also need to prove they can adhere to Covid-19 disease prevention measures. Schools will also be able to decide if they want to return fully to in-classroom learning, to continue with remote learning, or to use a mixture of both systems. Where onsite learning resumes, students will need to be kept at least 1.5 metres apart while in classrooms and there will be a maximum of 25 students permitted per room.

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post