Mekong Delta localities speed up COVID-19 vaccinations

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has sent a document to Secretaries of provincial/municipal Party Committees and Chairpersons of provincial/municipal People’s Committees, asking for faster vaccinations against COVID-19.

Ministry urges localities to accelerate vaccinations against COVID-19
Ministry urges localities to accelerate vaccinations against COVID-19

According to the MoH, from October to December this year, Vietnam is likely to receive a larger number of COVID-19 vaccines than before.

To ensure the use of vaccines on schedule and quickly increase vaccination coverage for Vietnamese people, the MoH proposed Secretaries of provincial/municipal Party Committees and Chairpersons of provincial/municipal People’s Committees across the county to direct relevant units to develop plans and prepare facilities, equipment and human resources to deploy large-scale vaccination rollouts from now until the end of 2021.

The ministry also urged localities to accelerate the inoculations for those aged 18 and above, with priority giving to people aged 50 and older, and increase the vaccination coverage of the first shot, give second injections to those who have received the first shots in line with the prescribed time.

Preparation should be made to deploy vaccinations for other groups in accordance with instructions of the ministry, it added.

The MoH asked localities mobilise all forces to join the vaccination task, including public and private healthcare establishments and medical examination and treatment units of sectors, and conduct vaccinations at fixed medical facilities and mobile vaccination sites.

These facilities should thoroughly apply information technology in vaccination campaigns, and must urgently update full information related vaccinated people, and newly-administered people to the national COVID-19 vaccination system, it said.

The MoH suggested that leaders of localities urgently direct the implementation of the work, consider this as a key task in the current situation, and take responsibility before the Government and the Prime Minister if the organisation of vaccine reception and vaccination remains slow and vaccine waste occurs.

As of September 27, over 40.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered to people nationwide, with 23 million people getting the first shots and 8.6 million others fully receiving two shots. The proportion of people aged 18 years and above getting at least one dose of vaccineư against COVID-19 reached 43.9%.