The Ministry of Public Health has expressed strong concern over the high number of deaths among senior citizens reluctant to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
As a result, the ministry yesterday launched a fresh plea for the elderly to put their faith in modern medicine and receive vaccinations as a matter of urgency ahead of Songkran.
"Just one dose can reduce the odds of death five-fold, while a full course and one booster makes people 31 times less likely to die from the virus," said Dr Sumanee Watcharasin, director of the Risk Communication and Health Behaviour Development Office of the Public Health Ministry.
She said that the present number of daily new infections is around 50,000, including self-taken ATK test results, which is in line with earlier ministry forecasts. Unfortunately, the death toll has remained above 80 per day for seven consecutive days now, with data for the year so far (Jan 1-March 31) suggesting that 78% of all death have been among this older demographic, nearly two-thirds of whom had yet to even receive their first dose of vaccine.
The ministry would now target 13 million elderly people, of which 83.8% have received at least one dose already, 79.04% a second and only 37.02% who had gone on to get a booster shot as well. That left an additional 2.07 million who had yet to receive a single shot at all.
"We want to invite the elderly who have not yet received their first dose of vaccine, in particular, and also those who could come in and get their booster immediately. It would be great if we could see as many as possible before the Songkran festival as there is still time for vaccinations to save lives, research has shown," she said.
The department has conducted a number of studies into vaccine efficacy with even conservative estimates suggesting a five times greater chance of survival in the senior citizen age group. Based on its results so far, the protection afforded by vaccination can shoot up 31-fold in those to have three or more shots, she said.
The death rate among the unvaccinated elderly is 767 per one million of the population, but falls to 366 after the first dose, 145 following a second and just 25 cases for the third.