With travel barriers going up around the capital during peak travel holidays, City Hall today reiterated plans to vaccinate 3,000 people on an emergency basis in Bangkok’s worst-hit district of Wattana.
Priority for the doses – two per recipient – will go to employees of Thonglor nightlife venues and nearby residents, according to deputy permanent secretary Chawin Sirinak of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. He said the free inoculations would be given outdoors but didn’t specify where or when.
So far, Bangkok has received 196,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech, 66,000 of which have gone to medical personnel and those with underlying conditions.
Virologist Yong Poovorawan said yesterday that both brands of imported vaccine are very effective: 78% for the Chinese-made Sinovac and 76% for the one developed in part by Oxford University. They are also effective against the highly transmissible U.K. variant that has been driving Thailand’s third wave of infections spreading through entertainment venues.
Thailand reported its single highest number of cases in a single day today: 985 new cases. Of those, 137 were found in Bangkok. Since April 1, Bangkok has seen over 1,400 cases, more than 940 of which were traced to its nightlife.
The government continues to be maligned for its sluggish vaccination timetable. While neighboring nations are months into mass vaccination campaigns, Thailand does not plan to even begin manufacturing its domestic supply for another two months.
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Over a thousand people crowd into Thonglor’s Arena 10 for free COVID tests (Photos)
