The city has yet to cover all residents with COVID-19 vaccines since there is not any guidance on inoculation for children aged under 12, so it theoretically hasn’t achieved herd immunity, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, Chief of the municipal Health Department’s Office, told a press meeting on January 27.
Though new infections have fallen sharply and deaths have also stood at a single-digit number on recent days and continued to decrease, Ho Chi Minh City is still urging people to comply with the 5K principle and drastically pushing ahead with vaccination, especially the administration of booster doses, so as to enhance herd immunity.
Health authorities will make a list of all people who have yet to be inoculated, those eligible for receiving the second and third doses, as well as unvaccinated COVID-19 patients so as to prepare for the vaccination.
During Tet, each district will have one fixed vaccination site and can also organise mobile ones.
In terms of the Omicron cases, Nguyen Hong Tam, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Centre for Disease Control, said the city has recorded 92 infections of this variant, including 87 imported cases. The five others in the community were all linked with one imported Omicron case, and the transmission has initially brought under control.
