Thailand: Regulator approves Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11

The Food and Drug Administration of Thailand announced today that it has approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 in children aged five to eleven years.

The Comirnaty vaccine is the first to be approved in Thailand for this age group and will be administered in two doses of 10 micrograms with a distance of 21 days, the competent regulatory authority of the country clarified in the relevant announcement issued.

Thailand is also considering re-quarantining foreign visitors amid concerns about the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus Omicron, as the Ministry of Health announced today that the first case of its local transmission has been recorded in the country.

The Ministry of Public Health will propose abolishing the quarantine exemption for vaccinated visitors and provide that travelers will be isolated in hotels, although they will be allowed to move freely within certain limits of where they will be staying, the minister said. Health Anutin Tsarnvirakun.

The proposal is due to concerns about the spread of Omicron, Anutin said in a statement on a television show, adding that it will be “soon” in the government team dealing with COVID-19.

The minister’s comments come after Thailand reopened to foreign travelers in November, ending nearly 18 months of tight entry policies that have contributed to the collapse of tourism, major industry and the driving force of the economy. of the country, which attracted 40 million visitors in 2019.

Thailand has identified 63 cases of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus so far, according to Anutin, one of which involves transmission to the community and the rest to people who came from abroad.

As for the first case of local transmission announced today, a Health Ministry official clarified that it is a Thai woman who was diagnosed positive in Omicron, which was transmitted to her by her husband, a Colombian who returned to Thailand from Nigeria in late November.

“He is probably the first person in Thailand to be infected with Omicron by someone who has traveled abroad and the first case of local transmission,” said Sacrarat Pitayawonganon, an official with the ministry’s Disease Control Department.

Both husband and wife have been fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca, he added.

The couple had only one high-risk contact, a taxi driver who was quarantined and is expected to have a second test for the new coronavirus on Wednesday, Sacrarat concluded.

SOURCE: AMPE