Samut Sakhon will offer walk-in Covid-19 vaccination services for people age 18 and over, starting on Wednesday.
The provincial communicable disease control committee recently resolved to offer walk-in Covid-19 inoculation at 11 venues, at private and public hospitals, starting on Sept 1, provincial health office chief Naretrit Khadthaseema said on Tuesday.
Anyone aged 18 and over who had home registration in Samut Sakhon, and other people who stay in the province, could walk in and get vaccinated at those places.
People will receive a first dose of Sinovac and the AstraZeneca vaccine as the second, he said on the provincial public relations Facebook page.
The locations were not listed. There were many unanswered public comments on the page asking about them.
Walk-in services would be increased at community-level health promotion hospitals as needed, Dr Naretrit said.
“Now, 60-70% of people in vulnerable groups have received a Covid-19 vaccine. Inoculation services will go ahead, as we want 100% of vulnerable people vaccinated, or as many of them as possible.
"If people in these groups are infected, they could suffer severe symptoms,’’ Dr Naretrit said.
There were about 500,000 people in the province’s target group who had yet to receive a vaccine. He said there would be an adequate supply as more vaccines were gradually allocated to the province.
Samut Sakhon reported 16 more Covid-19 deaths and another 983 cases on Tuesday.
Of the new cases, 676 were confirmed at hospitals, 273 found at bubbled and sealed factories and 34 detected via mass testing.
The cases found at hospitals were 535 people living in Samut Sakhon (476 Thais and 59 foreign nationals) and 141 people from other provinces (91 Thais and 50 foreign nationals).
The 273 cases found at the sealed factories were 30 Thais and 243 foreign nationals.
The 34 cases detected by mass testing comprised 33 Thais and one foreign national, the provincial public relations office said on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The 983 new infections brought the provincial total to 92,074 of whom 70,303 had recovered and been discharged. A total of 21,204 were still under treatment at hospitals. The latest 16 deaths brought accumulated fatalities to 567.
Dr Naretrit Khadthaseema, chief of the provincial public health office, says walk-in vaccine services will be provided at 11 venues starting on Wednesday. (Photo: Samut Sakhon public relations office Facebook page)