HCMC – The Ministry of Health has called out eight localities for vaccinating their residents against Covid-19 at a slow pace—Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh, Binh Duong, Hau Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tien Giang and Thanh Hoa.
On August 9, the ministry held a teleconference with localities nationwide on their vaccination progress.
It stated that as of August 8, some 10.4 million vaccine doses had been administered. Nearly 8.5 million people have been injected with the first shot, and 967,400 others have been fully vaccinated with two shots, the local media reported.
HCMC has been given nearly 5 million doses, including 4.7 million doses that have been handed over to the city. Of these, the municipal Center for Disease Control has received some 4.3 million doses and other agencies, 408,730 doses.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, over the past week, the Covid-19 vaccination progress of localities has been expedited but has still failed to meet expectations.
He asked localities to complete general vaccination plans until April 2022 and conduct vaccination drives in a fast, effective and safe manner as soon as they get the vaccines.
The Ministry of Health had earlier asked cities and provinces to approve their vaccination plans by July 30. However, some localities failed to fulfill the task on time.
Therefore, Tuyen asked localities to review and approve the plans before August 15 and report the results to the national steering committee for Covid-19 vaccination.
All localities must accelerate their vaccination progress to reach herd immunity.
The ministry will publicize the localities which are slow in rolling out vaccination drives on local mass media.
In addition, the country has been vaccinating against Covid-19 at no charge. Vaccination sites and the relevant agencies must not collect any fee for the vaccination.