HCMC – HCMC expects to vaccinate 70% of its residents aged 18 and above against Covid-19 by August, while the Ministry of Health has asked the city to accelerate the vaccination drive and committed to supporting it with personnel to reach its target.
The city currently has some 7.5 million adults. Some 22.23% of these people have received one shot.
According to an urgent dispatch on Covid vaccinations during the stay-at-home period that the Ministry of Health has sent to the city, the city was allowed to simplify the vaccination procedures.
The ministry asked HCMC to inoculate people aged from 18, prioritizing frontline medical workers, elderly people and those having underlying health conditions, and speed up the vaccination process.
The city should mobilize all the possible forces for vaccination, including both public and private clinics, and administer vaccines at fixed sites and mobile clinics.
Residents should be shown how to fill in the vaccination form and file pre-vaccination health declarations and announce vaccination time and place.
Those who are eligible for vaccination but have yet to receive the vaccine must be vaccinated at the earliest.
People who need medical precautions can now visit any vaccination site, instead of hospitals and medical centers as earlier regulated by the Ministry of Health.
In areas on lockdown, the local authorities must arrange fixed and mobile vaccination sites based on the number of residents.
Technology should be applied to manage and monitor the vaccination process.
The Ministry of Health stressed that HCMC must accelerate the vaccination process but still ensure safety. If the city faces a shortage of personnel, the ministry will mobilize medical workers to support the city.
The city should not limit the number of vaccinated people per day per site. Under the city’s current fifth vaccination drive, each site should give 120-200 shots at most one day.
It also asked the city to decide for how long people will need to be observed post-inoculation.
HCMC has been allocated more than three million Covid vaccine doses and has administered more than 1.3 million doses.
The city launched its fifth vaccination drive on July 22 with more than 930,000 doses. The drive is planned to last for two to three weeks.
The city is considering vaccinating 62,000 shippers in the city.
At a recent meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said HCMC would receive at least five million vaccine doses by September.
By Minh Duy
