70% of Thai population to get first shot by September
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Millions of employees under the social security programme in Bangkok and nine provinces with large economies will get their vaccine shots along with other priority groups, including senior citizens and individuals with underlying conditions, according to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BANGKOK • Thailand is aiming to administer one shot of a coronavirus vaccine to 70 per cent of its population by September, its health minister said, as it seeks to provide protection for more people faster amid its deadliest outbreak so far.
The country has yet to start a mass immunisation programme and has been scrambling to secure vaccines from multiple brands after a new, more potent Covid-19 outbreak that has seen cases nearly quadruple and fatalities increase sixfold since early April.
"We will focus on the first shots of vaccination to meet the target of 70 per cent of the population by September," Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a statement on Wednesday.
He reassured the public that there would be no need to reserve a second shot as there would be doses available.
The government had previously aimed to vaccinate the 70 per cent needed to reach herd immunity by the end of the year but has been criticised for being slow to procure vaccines and for a strategy that had relied overwhelmingly on one manufacturer, AstraZeneca.
Thailand is scheduled to start its main drive next month, when locally manufactured AstraZeneca doses are available.
Just over 1.5 million of Thailand's more than 66 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, mostly that of Sinovac Biotech. They included medical workers and people with pre-existing health conditions.
Workers have been added to the front of the vaccination queue in an effort to buttress the economy as a raging Covid-19 outbreak threatens to delay plans to reopen borders for foreign tourists.
Millions of employees under the social security programme in Bangkok and nine provinces with large economies will get their shots along with other priority groups, including senior citizens and individuals with underlying conditions, according to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
"This group is an important engine to the nation's economy," Mr Prayut said on Wednesday. Workers in other provinces will be able to get inoculated as more vaccines become available, he added.
Thailand has also placed orders for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The authorities have so far approved the vaccines of Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
