Booster shots to be provided to 3 million

Booster shots to be provided to 3 million

Follow up for those who had Sinovac

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will roll out Covid-19 vaccine booster jabs to three million people nationwide who have been fully inoculated with Sinovac.

CCSA assistant spokeswoman, Dr Apisamai Srirangson, said on Friday that the Public Health Ministry has approved the rollout of the booster doses to fully vaccinated Sinovac people from Sept 24.

Three million people, vaccinated during March to May, will receive a message telling them to receive booster shots but there is no set date yet for people fully vaccinated during June to July, she said.

"The ministry has also approved to start under skin injections of booster dose vaccinations in Phuket. Each booster dose can be rolled out to five people using this method," Dr Apisamai said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chalermpong Sukhonthaphol, director of Wachira Phuket Hospital, said the province has got a total of 72,500 booster doses of AstraZeneca from the Disease Control Department.

He said Phuket has vaccinated over 40,000 out of 80,000 registered fully vaccinated locals from Sept 12.

Between Sept 19-25, the province plans to roll out booster doses to target groups and state officers in the province, he said.

The general public, foreigners and migrants workers will receive jabs between Sept 26-30, Dr Chalermpong informed.

He expressed his confidence that once the vaccination campaign is completed, it will greatly benefit pandemic control efforts in Phuket.

In order to further promote tourism and boost the local economy in Phuket, the Disease Control Committee has allowed the Vegetarian Festival and Sat Thai, Thai mid-year festival, to be held this year but with strict health measures in place.

The committee has also reconsidered the proposal to lift a ban on alcohol sales and drinking in restaurants to stimulate spending at hotels and restaurants, as having alcoholic drinks during meals does not cause transmission.

In the related news update, Surat Thani governor Witchawut Jinto, said as of Wednesday, the province has welcomed 711 foreign visitors during 60 days of the Samui Plus Model, which began on July 15.

Mr Witchawut revealed that most visitors came from France (127), Germany (105) and the United Kingdom (102).

Their stay in the province resulted in more than 47 million baht of tourism revenue from their spending, he said. A total of 479 visitors were travelling from the Phuket Sandbox Programme and 145 from the Phuket Extension Programme, he said.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (20)