Govt to buy 3 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for children under-5
The government is buying 3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to be administered to children aged six months to under five years old, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday.
Anutin said the 3 million doses of Pfizer’s magenta cap vaccine will be delivered from the fourth quarter of 2022.
Anutin expected the contract signing to take place soon, adding that delivery of this lot of vaccine would take less time compared to previous lots as the Department of Disease Control has a standing order with Pfizer, already approved by the Cabinet.
“This time, we are just adding a new type of vaccine for small children to the total order, so we should be able to use the vaccine from October onwards,” he said.
Pfizer’s vaccine for children under five must be administered at 10 micrograms per dose for the first two jabs, three weeks apart. The booster shot will be 3mcg per dose, eight weeks after the second jab.
As of September 6, Thailand has given over 142.89 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine — 57.27 million doses of first jab covering 82.3 per cent of the population; 53.74 million second jabs (77.3 per cent), and 31.88 million third jabs and more (45.8 per cent).
