3.68 million students registered to receive Pfizer vaccines
Pfizer vaccines are ready to be administered beginning Monday to young people at schools and universities with 3.68 million students registered so far. The Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Education are working together the vaccinate 70% of high school and vocational school students by the end of October ahead of classroom learning recommencing in November.
The ministries are surveying the parents of school-age children to calculate the number of vaccines needed, though they have targeted 5.04 million students between the ages of 12 and 17 to receive Pfizer vaccines after the Food and Drug Administration approved the injections for children 12 and over. Sinopharm subsequently requested permission for use in children over 3, though the request was not approved.
Distribution of Pfizer vaccines by the Department of Disease Control will take place across Thailand with 8 million more vaccines expected to be received by the end of October, according to the director for emergency health hazards and diseases. Supplies will be plentiful enough to inject 70% of the student population.
Of all the students throughout Thailand requesting the Pfizer vaccines, 100% of students in Phuket – 33,330 total – have asked to be inoculated, while 85% of students in Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat have requested vaccines, 350,000 and 88,000 students respectively. Those 3 were the top provinces in the inoculation drive.
The Ministry of Education says the vaccine drive is in line with reopening safety measures that will require 85% of teachers and staff to be fully vaccinated as well. Students who joined the campaign are advised to submit their evaluation form via the Mor Prom app after getting vaccinated.
There is still some debate over whether to give boys only a single vaccine as there have been rare cases of heart inflammation uncovered in an American report, though only one case has been reported in Thailand – that of a 13 year old boy who is now in a hospital recovering.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
