Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long
As per the plan, the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign lasts from July 2021 to April 2022, Mr. Long said
Every citizen above the age of 18 years will be vaccinated free of cost. So far, the country has organized many vaccination campaigns including the most recent campaign to inject 23 million doses of measles-Rubella vaccine for children. Approximately 150 million doses of vaccine will be administered in the large-scale vaccination drive to achieve herd immunity.
In order to be able to access the source of the Covid-19 vaccine while vaccine scarcity has seen in the globe, the Ministry of Health has made great efforts to bring the vaccine to Vietnam under the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister.
The Ministry has conducted hundreds of negotiations with vaccine manufacturers in the world since mid-2020 to obtain more than 100 million doses of vaccine for the country.
In July alone, more than 9 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were delivered to Vietnam when the Covid-19 epidemic was complicated in Ho Chi Minh City and some southern provinces and cities.
The Covid-19 vaccines have been stored in the warehouses of the military zones jointly managed by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Health, meeting Good Storage Practices (GSP) standards. The Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in mobile vehicles and venues nationwide.
The health and safety of residents are top priority; therefore, health care workers carefully screen and monitor people’s before and after inoculation. Along with that, leading experts are ready to provide treatment for those who suffered post-vaccination reactions.
The Ministry of Health closely worked with other competent agencies to promote the thorough application of information technology in vaccination management. The highlight was the "Electronic Health Book" with information about vaccination such as vaccination registration, vaccination diary, post-injection monitoring.
Those who have been injected will be given a QR Code which will secure the "vaccine passport" later. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Information and Communications has assisted to develop a platform in vaccination and Covid-19 testing to help people and medical units easily capture information about vaccinations and tests.
According to the Ministry of Health, among 16 priority groups for Covid-19 vaccination are people with chronic diseases and people over 65 years old.
