Authorities are planning to give employees from 24,000 companies, including factory workers, Covid-19 vaccines by June 26, in a bid to speed up the rate of vaccination in the business sector.
Around 1,000 workers insured under Section 33 of the Social Security Act will be inoculated each day at a factory in Nong Chok district in eastern Bangkok, said Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit as he, along with Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin, visited the vaccination site yesterday.
Officials want to give priority to factories that have many workers.
The Industry Ministry has prepared 27 vaccination venues for factory workers. Mr Suriya said last Friday that provincial governors have already approved six venues: Sinsakhon Industrial Estate, Samut Sakhon Industrial Estate, Amata City Chonburi, Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Bangkadi Industrial Park and Mae Moh power plant.
At present, around 64,000 factories are overseen by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand and the Industrial Works Department.
"Thailand has 3.3 million employees under Section 33. Around 850,000 of them are working in industrial estates," Mr Suriya said.
Factory operators are cooperating with the government to have their workplaces inspected to ensure their factories are free of virus transmissions under the "Thai Stop Covid Plus" campaign.
"So far 8,565 factories have participated in the campaign," Mr Suriya said.
Meanwhile, Mr Suchart said yesterday that his ministry is cooperating with a network of hospitals under the Social Security Office in 23 areas to distribute vaccines to workers from 24,000 companies by June 26.
The ministry's nationwide vaccination scheme started on June 7.
The move supports the government's efforts to reduce daily infection rates and push the economy forward.
"The government expects to distribute vaccines to around 50,000 workers per day," said Mr Suchart.
According to the Labour Ministry, vaccinations for employees under Section 33 between June 7 to June 11 and on June 14, covered 235,188 people.