Thailand Kicks Off Mass Vaccination Campaign

By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, June 8 (Bernama) -- Thailand Sunday kicked off its long-awaited mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, with the aim of vaccinating 70 per cent of its nearly 70 million population by the end of this year to achieve herd immunity. The mass vaccination drive started with the AstraZeneca vaccine locally-produced by Siam Bioscience Co. Ltd (Siam Bioscience) and Sinovac from China. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha who visited the Central Vaccination Centre at Bang Sue Grand Station, a new commuter train hub in Bangkok that has been turned into an inoculation centre, assured that everyone in the kingdom will be vaccinated. “Today is the start of nationwide vaccinations. The number of people applying for inoculation is higher. However, more vaccine will be delivered as planned,” he said after visiting the vaccination centre. With the start of mass vaccination campaign, Thailand aims to administer about 500,000 shots per day. To date, there are a total of 986 vaccination centres nationwide. In Bangkok, shopping malls like Siam Paragon and Iconsiam as well as stadiums are collaborating with hospitals for the vaccination campaign. Those aged 60 and older, and those with underlying diseases will be among those receiving the jabs starting Sunday. Ministry of Foreign Affairs' deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said statistics from the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) showed as of noon, about 143,000 people have been vaccinated, including 73,000 of those aged 60 and older. “It is a good start, good pace. If we keep this pace, we can achieve our goal (achieve herd immunity by end of the year),” he said at COVID-19 daily briefing here today. The mass vaccination campaign also includes residents in Bangkok, the epicenter of the current outbreak. Residents in theresort island, Phuket will also be inoculated as scheduled to welcome vaccinated tourists starting July 1. Thailand started its intial vaccination drive on Feb 28 targetting mostly for medical personnel, and lags behind many of its neighboring countries in vaccination. To date, about 4.2 million people have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine nationwide. Meanwhile, CCSA spokesman Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin said Thailand has plans to administer 6 million doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines this month. Local media reported the vaccine supplies were falling short of demand with hospitals in several provinces posting notices to delay scheduled vaccination appointments. To date, Thailand has procured 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 6.5 million doses of Sinovac. Thailand is expected to sign a contract to procure 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccine this week. Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 2,419 new COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 179,886 and 1,269 fatalities to date. -- BERNAMA