Workers to get jab first

Shoppers buy fresh produce at Bang Kapi market in Bang Kapi district of Bangkok on Wednesday. The market has been ordered by City Hall to close for three days staring on Thursday after several vendors tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Shoppers buy fresh produce at Bang Kapi market in Bang Kapi district of Bangkok on Wednesday. The market has been ordered by City Hall to close for three days staring on Thursday after several vendors tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)

Employees under Section 33 of the Social Security Act and people living in nine important provinces will be given priority vaccinations against Covid-19, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.

Prayut posted details of the government's vaccination programme on his Facebook page, a day after stopping walk-in services for Covid-19 vaccinations to prevent people flocking to the inoculation sites and becoming upset if they failed to get a jab.

Instead, the prime minister wanted a new vaccination format such as on-site registration and on Wednesday proposed this new policy. Previously, the government said the elderly and sick would get first priority. It's now unclear when they will get the vaccine.

Prayut said Section 33 workers, mainly those who work in offices, are considered important for the economy, while many now have a high risk of contracting the virus, as their work involves handling a large number of customers.

According to the Labour Ministry, there are about 11 million employees covered by Section 33.

The Covid-19 vaccination programme for these workers will start next month, he said.

Next in line to receive the vaccine after this group will be people living in nine economic provinces, he said.

However, the prime minister did not give the names of the provinces.

His U-turn on a plan to allow a walk-in services under the Covid-19 vaccination drive has provoked a furious reaction by a spokesman of the Bhumjaithai Party.

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Vocabulary

  • drive: a planned effort to achieve something - การผลักดัน,ความพยายาม
  • flock: to go somewhere in large numbers; to gather together in large numbers - แห่กันไป
  • furious : extremely angry - ซึ่งโกรธจัด
  • inoculation (noun): an act of protecting a person or an animal from catching a particular disease by injecting them with a mild form of the disease - การฉีดวัคซีน,
  • jab: a vaccination - การฉีดวัคซีน
  • policy (noun): a set of plans or action agreed on by a government, political party, business, or other group - นโยบาย
  • priority: something important that must be done first or which needs more attention than something else - การมาก่อน
  • provoke: to cause an angry or aggressive reaction - ปลุกเร้า
  • social security: money that the government pays regularly to people who are poor, unemployed, sick, etc - สวัสดิการสังคม,ระบบการประกันสังคม
  • U-turn (noun): a complete change in policy or behaviour, usually one that is embarrassing; a turn of 180° that a vehicle makes so that it can move forwards in the opposite direction - การเปลี่ยนโดยสิ้นเชิง, การเลี้ยวหรือทางเลี้ยวเป็นรูปตัว "U"
  • upset: very sad, worried or angry about something - วิตก กังวล
  • vaccination (noun): giving someone a vaccine, usually by injection to prevent them from getting a disease - การฉีดวัคซีน
  • vaccine: a substance which contains a form that is not harmful of a virus and which is given to a person or animal to prevent them from getting the disease which the virus causes - วัคซีน
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