Students on track to get Pfizer jabs from Monday
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Students on track to get Pfizer jabs from Monday

At least 3.68 million students have submitted requests for the Pfizer vaccine which the Ministry of Public Health is to start administering to school and university goers on Monday.

The ministry plans to provide the vaccine to 70% of high school and vocational school students by the end of the month before they return to class in November.

It joined hands with the Ministry of Education to survey parents to check the number of students who will be vaccinated.

The Ministry of Public Health has targeted 5.04 million students aged 12-17. This is in line with the recent approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 and over. The FDA is also considering the inactivated Sinopharm vaccine for children over three.

Dr Chawetsan Namwat, director for emergency health hazards and diseases, said the Department of Disease Control is going to distribute the Pfizer vaccine to students nationwide.

"We expect to receive an additional eight million doses by the end of the month. That means that we have enough for the student population. We will achieve our plan to provide the vaccine to at least 70% of students by October," he said.

He said the top three provinces where students have asked to be vaccinated are Phuket (100% or 33,330 students), Bangkok (85% or 350,000) and Nakhon Si Thammarat or (85% or 88,000).

He advised students to submit their evaluation form using the Mor Prom application after getting the vaccine.

The ministry is also considering whether it should give only one shot to boys after concerns were raised over links to a rare form of heart inflammation, according to a report in the United States, he said.

So far, only one such case, a 13-year-old boy who is now recovering in hospital, has been reported in Thailand.

According to the Education Ministry, schools have to implement Covid-19 safety measures before welcoming students back. The measures include at least 85% of teachers and staff having to be fully vaccinated.

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