Thailand’s Chulabhorn Royal Academy (CRA), currently the country’s sole importer and administrator of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, has announced plans to inoculate children aged 10-18, under its “VACC 2 School” campaign, to help schools reopen for onsite classes sooner, amid reports of online learning problems. Registrations start today (Wednesday).

Schools can apply for the vaccine for their students free of charge. A total of 50,000 students will be accepted in preparation for the new school term. The inoculations are scheduled to begin on September 20th, which is also Thailand’s National Youth Day.

To be eligible for this inoculation campaign, students must be 10-18 years old, have never been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine, have never been infected by the virus, not have underlying non-communicable diseases (those with underlying diseases must show their medical certificate proving their illness, stating that they can be vaccinated) and have permission from their parents.

Most importantly, parents must be aware of the risks and that Sinopharm has only been approved for emergency use in Thailand, while the use in children under 18 is still under consideration.

Applications are open from today through the website https://vaccine.cra.ac.th (click on the “vaccine allocation for schools” menu). The CRA will then inform the head of school by email about how to register to find out the number of vaccines they will receive and how to submit the names of students who wish to be vaccinated.

The vaccinations will take place at the CRA vaccination site on Chaengwattana Road.