Free flu shots available in Thailand in early May

BANGKOK, April 24 (TNA) - The National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the Department of Disease Control (DDC), both under the Thai Ministry of Public Health, will cooperate on offering free vaccine against influenza to people of risk groups in Thailand, starting from May 1, 2014. NHSO Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Prateep Thanakitcharoen told reporters on Wednesday that his office will work together with the DDC to provide a total of three million doses of influenza vaccine to people of four targeted risk groups across the country for free, including those with chronic diseases, the elderly aged 65 years and older, young children aged 3 months–2 years and four-to-nine-month pregnant women. In response to higher flu cases so far this year, Dr. Prateep said the free shots of vaccine, funded by a state budget of over 400 million baht, will be provided to the targeted groups of people earlier than previous years, from May 1–September 30, 2014. According to the DDC’s Bureau of Epidemiology (BOE), flu outbreaks in Thailand normally happen in the rainy and the winter seasons, with about 900,000 people contracting influenza each year and about 150 of them dead. From January 1-April 4, 2014, a total of 26,645 flu cases had been reported in Thailand, most of whom are children and teenagers, and 35 of them died. (TNA)