Thailand will go well beyond its target of 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by end-2021
By the end of this year, Thailand will have procured 155.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, far exceeding the 100-million doses target the government had set in April.
“Of the total 155.6 million doses, 128.6 million doses are Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer procured by the government, while 27 million are alternative vaccines, namely Sinopharm and Moderna, procured by the private sector,” government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Saturday.
“The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration [CCSA] has set a new target to be achieved before yearend – 80 per cent of the population must have got at least the first shot and 70 per cent their second shot.”
The CCSA reported that as of Friday, 84.4 million Covid-19 jabs had been administered in Thailand since the vaccine rollout began on February 28. So far, 45.2 million people or 67.3 per cent of Thailand’s 69.8 million population have received their first jab, while 36.5 million or 54.4 per cent have received their second jab. Meanwhile, 3.8 per cent of the population or 2.7 million people have received a booster shot.
Of the total doses, 2.2 million have been administered to foreigners living in Thailand, with 26.5 per cent of expats in the country having been fully vaccinated.
Since the vaccine drive for children aged 12-17 kicked off on October 4, a total of 4.3 million doses have been administered. Of these, 2.8 million doses are first jabs and 1.5 million doses second jabs.
“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the CCSA to set up a system allowing people who do not have Thai nationality or no ID card to get their Covid-19 jabs on a voluntary basis,” he said. “The system will generate an ID code for each vaccine recipient so the Public Health Ministry can issue a vaccine certificate and track symptoms and/or side effects.
“People in these groups include fishing boat crew members in 21 seaside provinces, migrants working for businesses or those living with their employers [both registered and unregistered] as well as refugees fleeing danger in their countries,” Thanakorn added.