Thailand races to roll out Covid-19 vaccines to prisoners
Thai prisoners rolled up their sleeves to get corona virus jabs on Friday (Jun 25) as the kingdom seeks to tackle a mass infection outbreak in its overcrowded jails. Authorities have already been trying to include a recent virus surge in the penal system, where some inmates have less space to sleep than the within a coffin.
There have been a lot more than 35,000 COVID-19 cases inside prisons and inmates have already been encouraged to wear masks even when they sleep during the night.The federal government has begun rolling out an initial batch of 300,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine across the country's jails.Inmates at Chonburi Central Prison, two hours southwest of Bangkok, prearranged on Friday morning to receive their jabs.
"Overcrowding in prisons is one factor making it difficult to prevent this sort of disease," the institution's director, Chan Vachiradath, told AFP. He said the almost 6,300 inmates at his prison had up to now remained corona virus-free, but staff are on guard. Every prisoner had to endure a swab test before their vaccination and priority was given to elderly inmates. and those suffering underlying medical ailments that made them more susceptible to severe illness.
