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Walk-in centres for vaccination against Covid-19 without appointment will be in place across the country by June, the Ministry of Public Health said Wednesday.
“Many people wanted to be vaccinated but could not get an appointment via the online registration system,” said Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, the director-general of the Department of Disease Control.
“The idea is for anyone willing to be vaccinated to be able to received the service, to reach as many people as possible,” he added.
The National Vaccine Board approved the policy along with the new target of procuring 150 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by 2022, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said after the Board’s meeting Wednesday.
He said the new blanket vaccination plan will begin in June through three channels:
- The group of people who have registered online. More than 1.73 million people registered online between May 7 and 11.
- Group registrations such as factory workers and large businesses.
- General population via the walk-in policy without any prior registration.
Fourteen vaccinations sites have now been set up in Bangkok, the hardest-hit province in the third wave, which started at entertainment venues in the capital and surrounding provinces since April 1.
The local administration is also planning to set up another 11 sites to reach the target of vaccinating between 38,000 and 50,000 people at these 25 sites per day.
The country has procured three million Sinovac vaccines and 117,000 AstraZeneca vaccines since February. Local production of the AstraZeneca vaccine is under preparation and scheduled to reach an output of 6 million doses in June, ramping up to 10 million per month by the end of the year.
As of Wednesday, more than 1.37 million people have received their first dose of Covid vaccine and 563,552 have received both required doses.