Thailand begins vaccine roll-out with jabs from China’s Sinovac
- Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy aims to inoculate 50 per cent of its population by the end of this year as the government tries to reopen
- Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was not inoculated on Sunday as earlier planned because the Sinovac vaccine is not recommended for people his age
A group of health care workers received the first shots, state-owned NBT television network showed in a national live broadcast, with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha presiding over proceedings. Prayuth was not inoculated on Sunday as earlier planned because the Sinovac jab is not recommended for people his age, Opas Kankawinpong, director general of the Disease Control Department, told a briefing on Saturday.
“Today’s event is to assure the public about the safety of the vaccine that the government will roll out from now on,” Prayuth said on Sunday. “National vaccination is a major step for the government to go through with this Covid-19 pandemic.”
Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy aims to inoculate 50 per cent of its population by the end of this year as the government tries to reopen its borders, which have been closed for almost a year to curb the outbreak.
Priority is to be given to the areas of the country worst-hit by the pandemic, including the capital and Samut Sakhon province, where an outbreak among migrant workers at a shrimp market in December became the epicentre of the country’s second wave of infection.