Bang Sue walk-in vaccinations for elderly expats to end Saturday

Walk-in vaccination services for elderly expats at Bangkok’s Bang Sue Grand Station is ending on Saturday. The government is preparing to roll out the next phase in its Covid-19 immunisation plan. Starting Sunday, August 1, registration in Bangkok will open up to those 18 and older, but there will be no walk-in services.

Until Saturday, foreign residents who are 75 and older can walk into the Bang Sue station from 9am to 4pm for same-day service to receive their first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The free inoculation services are offered to elderly expats from Bangkok as well as neighbouring provinces. Registration is also currently open to expats 60 and older, but an appointment must be booked in advance.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced today that registration will open for those 18 and up on Sunday, August 1.

Over the past several weeks, the Bang Sue vaccination centre, which is the largest in Thailand, has been overcrowded and health officials have been concerned about the possible spread of Covid-19, according to a spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The Transport Ministry is now stepping up enforcement on social distancing at the railway station vaccination centre, Anutin says.

With overcrowding usually in the mornings, Anutin is advising the public to show up in the afternoon. Around 20,000 people are inoculated each day at the vaccination centre.

To register for a vaccine at other vaccination centres, expats can visit ThailandIntervac.com, a platform run by the Department of Disease Control which is routinely updated with information on vaccines for foreign residents and links to register directly with participating hospitals. Vaccine registration is currently open to expats who are 60 years old or above, foreigners with underlying health conditions that put them at risk of a severe infection, and foreign residents who are at least 12 weeks pregnant.

SOURCE: Thai PBS