A health worker prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19Situation Administration (CCSA) has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine forchildren aged 5-11.
CCSA spokesman Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin said on January 20 that thechildren will be inoculated with orange-cap formula vaccine fromPfizer-BioNTech.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 5 to 11,which comes in a multiple-dose vial with orange cap and a label with orangeborder, has been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Three million doses ofPfizer COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in the kingdom on January 26 toinnoculate children aged 5 to 11. The vaccine is part of a 10-milliondose order made previously. After receiving the vaccine, the Thai Ministry of Healthwill take a few days to evaluate and test some samples as a safety precautionbefore starting the vaccination.
The vaccination programme forfive to 11-year-olds will get underway at the Queen Sirikit National Instituteof Child Health for children with underlying conditions such as asthma andobesity before moving to other hospitals. The ministry will work withthe Education Ministry to vaccinate all children with underlying healthconditions first.
The ministry has recorded anincreasing infection rate among students since the start of January. Infectionsare high among those aged 13-19 and at least one COVID-19 infected studentaged under 18 has died since November. So far, 4.5 million out of fivemillion teenagers aged 12-18 have received first shots and just over 4 millionhave got second jabs.
In a related news, the Thai Ministry ofHealth said that the country logged 8,640 new COVID-19 cases and 13 fatalities inthe past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections since the beginningof the pandemic to more than 2.3 million cases, with 22,000 deaths./.
