Vaccinate elderly family members before Songkran get-togethers, warns ministry
Elderly family members should be vaccinated against Covid-19 before the long Songkran holiday from April 13 to 17, the Public Health Ministry has warned.
Vaccination will protect them at a time when many people travel back to their hometowns to visit relatives, it explained.
Seniors have the highest mortality rate from Covid-19, according to the Department of Disease Control (DDC).
“Statistics show that people over 70 years old have about a 3 per cent chance of death after contracting Covid-19, while those aged 60-69 and 50-59 have a 0.6 and 0.2 per cent mortality rate, respectively,” DDC deputy director-general Dr Sophon Iamsirithavorn said.
“Studies also show that giving a booster shot or third jab to seniors helps reduce the chance of death after infection by up to 41 times compared to unvaccinated seniors,” he added.
“Since it takes the vaccine around one month after administration to fully stimulate the body’s immunity, now is the best time to give a booster shot to your elders before relatives come to visit them during Songkran, when the spread of the virus will likely increase because people are travelling.”
The DDC warned daily infections around Songkran could reach 50,000 per day due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“However, we can work together to bring this number down during May and June by increasing social distancing and other disease control measures,” said Sophon.
About 2.17 million seniors aged over 60 are still completely unvaccinated, according to the Public Health Ministry.
It has ordered all provincial public health offices to conduct surveys and send officials to vaccinate the elderly at home if they are unable to travel to hospitals or vaccination units.
