At present, all of the conditions to move forward with injections have been met in the nation. In line with the plan, the Ministry of Health is set to hold a conference on March 6 to implement the COVID-19 vaccination plan, provide training for the vaccine rollout, whilst handling all complications which may occur after inoculation, Minister Long said.

Initially, the vaccines were delivered to 18 COVID-19 treatment facilities and those directly involved in treating patients in 13 pandemic-hit provinces, with the highest priority being given to Hai Duong due to the locality being the nation’s most severely hit COVID-19 hotspot.

Moving forward, all vaccinated people will be managed and monitored with electronic health records, as well as being online certified to confirm that they have been vaccinated.

Approximately 1.3 million doses of the vaccine from the Covax facility will be delivered in April. However, it must be confirmed that the vaccination does do not guarantee 100% protection, Minister Long stressed.

According to information released by the manufacturer, the Pfizer vaccine has an efficiency rate of over 90%, whilst the AstraZeneca vaccine is 76% after the first shot, rising to 81% after the second dose. Minister Long stated that the vaccine will not solve all the problems relating to the pandemic, therefore urging every citizen to strictly comply with COVID-19 prevention measures.

Ensuring a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines will prove to be very difficult as these are newly developed vaccines that have not had a long period of research to confirm their quality and effectiveness, the Minister added.

According to the Ministry of Health, along with purchasing vaccines from abroad, it is necessary to focus on vaccine research and production, and stay active in ensuring domestically-produced vaccine sources, he added.

Hanoi wants to buy Covid-19 vaccine

Hanoi City has proposed the Ministry of Health allow it to purchase Covid-19 vaccines on its own to inoculate people aged 18 or older.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control Khong Minh Tuan said at a press briefing on March 4 that the city would buy some 15 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine using its budget and donations from organizations and individuals. Other funds will come from organizations or individuals who want to pay for the vaccination.

The city has written to the Ministry of Health proposing the ministry enhance its support for the city to access the Covid-19 vaccines that have been approved for use in Vietnam and allow it to buy them, said Tuan.

Residents aged 18 or older and non-residents in the city will be vaccinated, he added.

On February 24, the first shipment of Covid-19 doses arrived in Vietnam, so on March 6, the ministry will offer a vaccination training course to the employees of the preventive medicine system in the country's 63 provinces and cities.

In the ministry’s priority list, 13 provinces and cities that are still affected by Covid-19, including Hanoi City, will be supplied with Covid-19 doses, Tuan said.

As Hai Duong Province, currently the country’s biggest coronavirus hotbed, is identified as the top priority, the number of Covid-19 doses to be delivered to Hanoi City will not be large, leading to the city’s proposal.

Tuan was cited by the local media as saying that the city had made a list of people to be prioritized for the first injection. They are frontline workers.

VOV/SGT

Local firms keen on purchase of COVID-19 vaccines

A number of domestic businesses have announced their plans to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for use among their employees and family members following the arrival of the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine.