Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha will be the first person in Thailand to receive COVID-19 vaccine of AstraZeneca Co, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
Mr Anutin said that AstraZeneca delivered its vaccine to the Department of Disease Control on Monday. The Department of Medical Sciences would then take a few days to verify the vaccine lot and the inoculation would follow right away, he said.
The vaccine of AstraZeneca could be used with people aged 60 and over, so it was likely that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha would be the first one to have the jab in Thailand. The inoculation place would be the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, Mr Anutin said.
He expected the inoculation for the prime minister to happen on March 11.
Mr Anutin also said that he welcomed COVID-19 vaccine imports by the private sector but relevant operators must follow the rules of the Department of Disease Control. That included 30-minute observation of vaccine recipients and the collection of used vaccine vials to prove inoculation, he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said only three percent of vaccine recipients developed undesirable symptoms. Most were mild symptoms such as fever and irritation and pain at injection locations. (TNA)
