1. CCSA provided a summary of vaccination progress in Thailand, as presented by Dr. Chawetsan Namwat, Director of the Division for Disease Control from the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), as follows:
– Dr. Chawetsan reiterated that the allocation of Pfizer vaccines included foreign nationals.
– In total 334 patients have died following vaccination. Out of that number, investigations of 278 cases have been concluded and confirmed that the cause for these deaths are not related or connected to the vaccines administered. The investigations regarding the rest of the cases are on-going and information will be provided once available.
2. Yesterday, Thailand administered 219,840 doses of vaccines, increasing the total number of vaccinations to over 22.5 million doses.
As of 12 August 2021, a total number of 48,941 foreign nationals have registered for the vaccine appointments via the “expatvac.consular.go.th” platform.
Foreign nationals have also the option to register for a vaccine appointment with hospitals that have their medical records or via private hospitals that offer vaccines for purchase. For updated information, please visit the Thailandintervac.com website.
In response to some concerns raised by foreign nationals in Thailand regarding the availability of Pfizer vaccines, CCSA clarified that registration for appointments in the expatvac website will enable access to the first dose of vaccine, for the time being, from three manufacturers, namely, Sinovac, AZ, and Pfizer. How these vaccines are allocated depends on their availability. The vaccines are distributed equally through the same criterion for both Thais and foreign nationals alike.
Like many other countries in the world, Thailand does not have the privilege of offering registrants the opportunity to select their vaccine of choice, as we are still facing a temporary shortage of vaccine supply, worldwide. The practice is standard and the same for many countries, where the general public will be allocated vaccines in accordance with availability not by choice of brand. However, every government, like Thailand, will distribute as many available vaccines as soon as possible to help generate herd immunity as soon as possible too.
CCSA elaborated that the 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine donated by the US government will be distributed to the most vulnerable groups of people, which include front line medical workers as a booster dose, high risk groups living in areas with a higher fatality rate, as well as foreign nationals belonging to risk groups. Also, some Pfizer vaccines will be allocated to those who need to travel abroad for essential reasons such as students.
3. The number of new confirmed cases in Thailand today is 23,418 cases, with 212,179 active cases and 20,083 new recoveries. 184 new fatalities were registered today, with an accumulated total of number of fatalities recorded at 7,126. Bangkok still sees the highest fatality rate and 67% of fatalities are people aged over 60.
4. Bangkok continues to see the highest number of infections today at 5,140 cases. Samut Prakarn reported 1,936 cases, and Samut Sakhon 1,847 cases. More infections have been found at large gatherings, such as funeral events and MOPH has urged that organisers refrain from providing snacks/food to attendees during the ceremony and asked guests to take the snack box home.
In the public transportation sector, it is reported that more taxi drivers are infected with Covid-19. Reports of infections are still found in factories, markets, and construction and factory workers’ campsites, particularly in the Central, Eastern, and Southern regions of the country.
MOPH underlines the need to expedite inoculations in every province and for risk groups in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, as well as in the 7 provinces designated as the maximum controlled areas to curb the spread of the virus. Emphasis is also being given to pregnant women, as we have seen increase in cases of infections among this group, which have sadly resulted in deaths.
5. The Covid-19 mobile response team or the CCTR has been operating continuously in Bangkok to carry out active case findings through the use of Antigen Test Kit (ATK). A total of 711 tests had been completed yesterday, resulting in 101 positive cases, all of which have been immediately moved into HI or CI to prevent further spread among local communities. The number of tests being administered each day depends on the CCRT teams’ accessibility into each community, so the number of tests administered will fluctuate. CCSA also extended its appreciation for the CCRT’s hard work in Covid-19 prevention.
6. Thailand’s National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec) expects two COVID-19 nasal spray vaccine candidates to enter their first phase of human trials later this year.
Biotec’s Veterinary Health Innovation and Management Research Group said the two candidates are adenovirus-based and influenza-based, with tests on mice already producing encouraging results. The vaccine candidates are being jointly developed with pharmaceutical company KinGen BioTech and meet Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) safety standards.
7. Thailand is currently developing five homegrown vaccines, some of which have already begun human trials.
Starting next week, the briefing at CCSA will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The General CCSA Meeting will also be held on Monday, 16th September 2021 to review the current Covid-19 public health and disease control measures and the necessity to extend them until the end of August 2022.
Full CCSA English briefing can be viewed here >>> https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/videos/153704183554820/
Source: CCSA, Ministry of Public Health, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
