Thailand: Children aged 12-18 years to get Pfizer vaccine in fourth quarter as cases keep surging in country and tops 193,000

BANGKOK, June 12 (The Nation Thailand/ANN): Thailand's Department of Disease Control signed an initial contract with Pfizer, which allows Pfizer to submit documents to register the vaccine with the Food and Drug Administration.

The ministry expects to buy 20 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine within this year.

“The DDC is now working with schools to set up vaccination units and provide jabs to students,” said Anutin.

“It is estimated that there are about 5 million children in this age bracket. The 20 million doses that we will buy should easily cover this target group.

“The manufacturer of Sinovac vaccine is planning to register the vaccine for use in children aged over three years," Anutin said. "Once the registration is completed, we would immediately inoculate children in this age group as we would already have the vaccine in stock,” he added.

When asked if the delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine to Thailand would be affected as the company has said that it would deliver vaccines manufactured in Thailand also to other countries in South-East Asia, Anutin replied: “The company is under contract with the Thai government to deliver the vaccines on time. We should start asking such questions only when they fail to adhere to the schedule. In fact, we should be glad that a product from Thailand could help other countries.”

Meanwhile, Thailand on Saturday (June 12) confirmed 29 new Covid-19 deaths and 3, 277 more cases, the highest daily tally in over a week as infections in the prison system climbed.

The new case tally rebounded from Friday's 2, 290. Of the new infections, 892 were detected in the prison system, according to data released by the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

That raised the country's total case tally to 193, 105, with a majority of these infections reported since the third wave of outbreak began in early April, while its total death toll was up to 1, 431.

By regions, the capital Bangkok, the epicenter of the latest outbreak, still topped the list with 858 new cases reported over the last 24 hours.

The country was considering from next month to phase out the state-provided free quarantine accommodation for Thai nationals returning from abroad, a CCSA official said.

From July 1, they may be placed under the 14-day mandatory state quarantine system and pay for their accommodations and food, but the government will continue to cover their medical and healthcare expenses during the quarantine, the official said. - The Nation Thailand/ANN