Dr Withita Jang-iam, Deputy Director of Vachira Phuket Hospital, explained during a live broadcast interview yesterday (Feb 2 ) that the first children to be vaccinated will be those deemed to be at greater risk of developing serious infections from the virus.
“A total of 1,950 doses of vaccine for children have arrived in Phuket, but more than 30,000 children have been registered through Phuket Must Win to be vaccinated,” Dr Withita said.
“Therefore, the children who will be screened for vaccination jabs first are children with congenital diseases, which is a high-risk group,” she added.
“Now we are in the process of creating the list of children who should get vaccination jabs in the first group. Officials are collecting data from the Ministry of Education and medical records from hospitals for the selection process.
“The risk groups include children with heart disease, kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, Down syndrome and children requiring frequent medical treatment. It is estimated there are around 2,000 to 3,000 such children in Phuket,” Dr Withita said.
“These children will be among the first to be vaccinated,” she confirmed.
While higher at-risk children will be vaccinated first, more vaccine doses for children will arrive each week, Dr Withita assured.
“Children will receive the Pfizer vaccine provided in a vial with an orange lid, which is different from the Pfizer vaccine that is given to adults and children aged 12 years or older,” Dr Withita explained.
“The vaccine will be able to build immunity quite well in the first dose. Research studies have shown that after the first injection, the child has relatively good immunity, almost 90%,” she said.
“Children aged 5-11 years will be able to receive the second injection two months after receiving the first dose,” she added.
Dr Witita noted that children who are sick or have just recovered from an illness before being vaccinated may not build good immunity against COVID-19.
“Children should be observed after receiving the vaccination injection. If the develop any unusual conditions such as difficulty breathing or a rash, they should be brought immediately to a hospital,” she said.
Vaccination of young children aged 5-11 years started in Bangkok on Monday (Jan 31), with higher at-risk children being vaccinated first.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, Director-General of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), said that each vial of Pfizer vaccine for young children packaged with an orange vial cap contains 1.3 milliliters of concentrated mRNA vaccine, which must be diluted with 1.3 milliliters of 0.9% sodium chloride solution before use.
After dilution, each vial can provide 10 doses, reported state news agency NNT.
The primary vaccination schedule for children 5-11 years old requires two doses, each administered three to 12 weeks apart. This children’s version of the mRNA vaccine can be stored for up to 10 weeks at 2-8