A major shopping mall in Bangkok’s northern outskirts apologized this morning for letting a vaccination event turn chaotic as dense crowds packed in in hope of a jab.
Future Park Rangsit issued its apology for Saturday’s incident at which a large crowd gathered shoulder-to-shoulder inside the indoor mall without any attempt at social distancing.
“We are taking action. We have addressed the problem and proposed solutions to the organization involved to improve the situation immediately,” Future Park Rangsit’s statement reads.
Since Saturday, videos and photos went viral showing crowds queueing in the Future Park Rangsit department store in Pathum Thani at an event organized by the provincial government for residents to receive a dose of Sinopharm.
“Queue in a line that no longer exists. We’re jammed together here. I think I’m going to get infected with COVID-19 before getting the vaccine,” one TikTok video clip from the event was captioned.
Abdul Mahamad of the Pathum Thani Provincial Administration insisted that social distancing measures had been in place for the vaccination site. While confirming that the incident went down as seen online, Abdul chose to blame someone in line who may have knocked down a rope barrier. He said it wouldn’t happen again.
Thailand has administered more than 36 million doses to the population; about 10 million people are now fully vaccinated, or 14% of the population. In Bangkok, one of the worst-hit provinces, over 90% of the population has received at least one dose.
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