A widespread lack of understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic in the far South has caused concern among disease experts.
Muhammad Fahmi Talae, epidemiology expert and nursing lecturer from the Prince of Songkla University Pattani Campus, said many people in the deep South have not yet approached officials to get Covid vaccinations.
"That's not about religion, but they have limited health literacy," he said. "They believe that getting vaccinated would only have short-term advantages, or might make them ill later."
Speaking at an online media workshop, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (Usaid), Mr Muhammad said a survey of Covid-19 information in the southern border provinces, conducted by his university from May 31 to June 4, some 49% of far southerners remained unsure about whether they should get a jab.
A second survey, conducted from Aug 9 to 15, showed 61% of respondents were unjabbed and 60% of these unjabbed people had hesitated to get vaccinated.
"The results came despite the soaring cases in three provinces; both deaths and infections are witnessed every day," he said.
"It might be that they do not believe the vaccine could help to save their lives and are afraid of the side effects."
Community Rights Strengthen Association chairman Donya Salaemae said he had gone on a field trip to villages around the South and saw many villages had sealed themselves off to prevent virus transmission, which could be hazardous for them.
"The villagers used huge cement blocks to enclose the entry points, which meant people inside cannot go out -- and no one can get in. If there was an emergency, no one in the village could escape," he said.
He said many households lost their income from lockdowns between provinces as they could not go to work.
Suwara Kaewnui, social work lecturer from Prince of Songkla University Pattani campus, said the government needed to be careful in implementing measures in the South which may ignite local resentment as some measures may be quite sensitive for them.
She said local people had still agreed to protect themselves from the pandemic.
She raised the top five issues that people agreed with in a survey, showing that 97.6% wore masks, 95.3% supported active virus searching, and 95.1% approved of a 14-day quarantine period.