Vaccination for young children kicks off

BANGKOK (NNT) - The vaccination campaign against COVID-19 for young children finally kicked off yesterday, starting with children with underlying health conditions.

Thailand’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19 for children 5-11 years old kicked off at Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, so-called the Children Hospital, where children with underlying health conditions were the first to get their jabs.

The Ministry of Public Health is now rolling out the pediatric version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children in this age group. The first 300,000 doses were delivered to Thailand last week from a placed order of 10 million doses.

Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul said Pfizer is expected to deliver 300,000 doses of their children’s vaccine to Thailand every week. The firm is also looking to increase the delivery capacity as requested by the ministry, which will require an amendment to the supply contract if feasible.

The lower-dose orange cap version of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for children aged 5-11 years old.

The Thai Food and Drug Administration on 20 January received an application from Chinese drugmaker Sinovac for the approval of their inactivated vaccine for use in children as young as 3 years old. The drug regulator is expected to deliver their decision next week, following a thorough safety and effectiveness review.