Chiang Mai: A vaccination unit has been established at a hospital near two remote communities to save people having to make long trips to get their jabs.
Provincial governor Charoenrit Sanguansat visited Mae Tuen Hospital in Omkoi district, which is now the main vaccination point for residents of two far-flung mountainous tambons, Mae Tuen and Mon Jong.
The hospital has been allocated a vaccine supply by the bigger Omkoi Hospital.
If Mae Tuen Hospital had not been established as a vaccination point, residents would have had to make a three-hour return trip to Omkoi Hospital to be vaccinated.
Mr Charoenrit said distance and geography should not stand in the way of ensuring equal distribution of vaccines to people. He said he was pleased to see that people were keen to get the vaccine shots.
Mae Tuen Hospital has so far received 100 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 884 doses of Sinovac. The vaccinations are being provided to 1,980 residents of the two tambons.
A total of 224 people were inoculated at the hospital yesterday, the second day of the mass nationwide vaccination rollout. The rest have booked their jabs through local health volunteers and other means.
In Mae Chaem district, a health volunteer won a calf as top prize in a raffle organised to woo people to get vaccinated.
A one-month-old calf was tied to a pole outside Mae Chaem district office as proof of the top prize. Only those who have received the jabs were eligible to enter the draw sponsored by the district office.
