Hua Hin hospital has confirmed which vaccines it will be administering to people who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 jab.
According to a post on its official Facebook page people who have received Sinovac as a first dose will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine during their second dose.
First and second doses are to be administered 3 to 4 weeks apart, the post says.
The ‘mix and match’ vaccination policy, which is in place throughout Prachuap Khiri Khan is in line with directives issued by Thailand’s National Committee on Immunization.
Early this month, the Thai government endorsed a plan to mix doses of the coronavirus vaccines of Sinovac and AstraZeneca, despite some public unease about use of the largely untested strategy.
The unease could be seen in comments on the post on Hua Hin Hospital’s Facebook page, with one reply reading: “Thank you HH hospital for all your updates, we are very confused really about the combination of the two vaccines, we really don’t know what to do after reading the comments about mixing the two vaccines ,we hoped that it was AZ but it is what it is.
The strategy to mix and match vaccines will help boost immunity, the government said, particularly among frontline health care workers, some of whom in Prachuap Khiri Khan were given a further booster jab on Monday (July 19).
Meanwhile, despite World Health Organization Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan describing the strategy to mix and match vaccines as a “dangerous trend” not backed by evidence, WHO in general said it is not opposed to mix and match vaccines, providing close monitoring for side affects and research is undertaken.
