The Thai government has replaced its “walk-in” COVID-19 inoculation program with “on-site”, to avoid misunderstandings that vaccines can be administered right away on the same day.

On-site inoculation is another option members of the public can access COVID-19 vaccination, in addition to Mor Prom online registration.

The walk-in program was rejected by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha out of concern that this option may cause problems at the vaccination sites, as people may rush to get vaccinated, resulting in congestion and a high risk of disease transmission.

Under the on-site program, people can register themselves at designated vaccination sites. They will receive the jab on the day of their registration, if there are sufficient doses available. If not, health officials will make appointments for them to receive jabs later. This will do away with making people wait at the sites, not knowing whether they will get vaccinated on that day, as would be the case with the walk-in approach.

The third option for vaccination is for specific groups of people, considered as important to the country’s economy and for the pursuit of normal life by the general public.

In Bangkok, about 230 hospitals, health offices and another 25 locations will be designated as on-site vaccination sites, four of which are operational at Central Ladprao shopping mall, Samyan Mitrtown mall, The Mall Bang Kapi and Big C Bang Bon department store.

According to the Government House website, the government may consider the walk-in vaccination option again if there are more doses available than the number of people showing up for vaccination at any given location.

So far, more than 7.4 million elderly people and those afflicted with seven underlying diseases have signed up for vaccination, out of a total of 16 million people. These include 810,331 people in Bangkok and 6,595,236 in the rest of the country.

Group vaccination services are also available for organizations with many employees through any provincial communicable disease committee.