Thai campaign to vaccinate schoolchildren makes progress
BANGKOK — Health officials in the Thai capital made headway Tuesday in their effort to vaccinate children against the coronavirus, giving shots of the Pfizer vaccine to students ages 12-18 with underlying diseases.
Vaccinations for that age bracket were first offered last month through hospitals but now are arranged by schools. A separate campaign by a medical research institute on Monday began inoculating children aged 10 to 18 with China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
On Tuesday, 1,500 students received shots of the Pfizer vaccine, 800 for the first time and 700 as a follow-up to their first shot in August.
Bangkok officials have asked the Health Ministry to provide more Pfizer vaccine to inoculate all children ages 12-18 in the capital, said city Gov. Aswin Kwanmuang. In other developments:
■ Bishops of the Church of England have joined calls for world leaders to fulfill promises made to reduce global vaccine inequality. The bishops voted unanimously Tuesday to endorse a statement made by two Church of England bodies demanding an emergency meeting of the G-7, the club of wealthy democracies including Canada, the US and the U.K., to commit to fulfilling vaccine equity promises.
■ Officials in the northeast China city of Harbin say national level health officials have been sent to the city to deal with what may be an outbreak. The city of 9.5 million people reported three infection cases Wednesday, a day after discovering a first case of community transmission.
■ India on Tuesday criticized the British government’s decision not to recognize coronavirus vaccine certificates issued by Indian authorities, calling it a “discriminatory policy” that will impact its citizens who want to travel to that country. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the new rules unveiled last week, which take effect next month, could force India to “impose reciprocal measures” if it isn’t resolved.