The COVID‐19 outbreak has had a great impact on the social, economic, and health systems of Thailand. A variety of measures to curb the spread of the disease were implemented since the beginning of the pandemic, including a strict national lockdown protocol. The Thai government aimed to achieve herd immunity through an efficient vaccination programme. Initially, vaccine supply shortage and a lack of vaccine options plagued the health system, but this has since been improved. Continuous monitoring of the situation through research is being carried out to assess the level of immunity among the population whereby the current general recommendation is presently a fourth booster dose for adults. Hurdles towards achieving herd immunity remain. One such issue is the low level of vaccine literacy among those that are unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated. Another obstacle is the sizeable rate of hesitancy towards getting booster doses. Achieving herd immunity in the Thai population would require multilateral cooperation, improved health promotion to target population groups, such as older adults, and a developed distribution system for those with limited access, such as those in the rural areas.

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The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe the opinions of teachers’ students toward teachers who smoked in Thailand. The population was teachers’ students (N=30) in their 1st–5th academic year of the Faculty of Education who participated based on purposive sampling according to eligibility criteria. The QDA Miner Lite program was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results indicated that the teachers’ students understanding of a teacher was a person who conveys knowledge, experience and life skills in various fields for students both inside and outside the classroom and school. They should be a good person with knowledge and qualifications, displaying exemplary maturity in every way and be a role model. Like a family that gives love and keeps training and teaching in the right way. A teacher should be a good adviser and listen to problems. The ideal teacher must love to teach proficiently and be knowledgeable in what is being taught, allowing students to understand various forms of knowledge and be current. Smoking also affects being a teachers’ students, in terms of inappropriateness and was not suitable for future teachers as it could affect the image of the organization. It also has harmful effect on health. A method that is likely to help prevent smoking among teachers’ students and teachers is to create awareness through training and organizing various projects such as establishing a smoking cessation treatment center and campaigning for ways to replace smoking or to refrain from smoking.

Adolescent smoking is dangerous. This study examined the self-assessment of risk factors to expose student teachers to smoking, compared the scores of health belief model structures in experimental and control groups, and summarized the poster and slogan campaign to prevent smoking. The experimental and control groups (n=30 each) were selected using eligibility criteria and simple random sampling. Three-part questionnaires were used to collect information that was analyzed based on mean, minimum, maximum, percentage, and paired sample t-test data. The key findings were: 1) student teachers in the experimental and control groups had smoked 1–2 cigarettes in the past (20% and 6.67%, respectively). In addition, for both the groups, cigarettes were readily available at convenience stores in residential areas (63.34% and 83.34%, respectively), their fathers smoked (16.67% and 20%, respectively), and their peers persuaded them to smoke (16.67 % and 23.30 %, respectively); 2) the health belief model demonstrated that both the experimental and control groups at 8 weeks had comparable pre-post findings for susceptibility (p=.000 and p=0.049, respectively), perceived severity (p=.000 and p=0.063, respectively), perceived benefits (p=.000 and p=0.065, respectively), perceived barriers (p=.000 and p=0.703, respectively), and cure to action (p=.000 and p=0.070, respectively); and 3) The main study "Online Health Education Program to Prevent Tobacco Use for Student Teachers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand: Design, Challenges, and Outcomes" worked on anti-smoking posters and slogans. The 8-week education program with events could enhance experimental group health beliefs. Thus, student teacher smoking prevention efforts should incorporate posters and slogans.