HCMC – As HCMC has run out of the Moderna vaccine, residents in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District who have been given Moderna as the first shot are now given the Pfizer vaccine as the booster jab if they agree on the mixture.
Binh Thanh Chairman Dinh Khac Huy said on September 7 that the district has resorted to the solution since September 6 in all wards of the district, the local media reported.
As directed by the HCMC Department of Health, the district has announced the use of the Pfizer vaccine as the second shot to those who took the Moderna vaccine as the first shot.
In addition, people who received AstraZeneca and Pfizer as their first shot will be administered the Pfizer vaccine if the period between their first and second shots is suitable.
Huy said Binh Thanh had been allocated more than 9,200 Pfizer vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, a representative of the District 11 government said on September 6, the district administered the Pfizer vaccine to 540 people who have got the Moderna vaccine earlier.
According to Dr Truong Huu Khanh, an expert in infectious diseases at HCMC Children’s Hospital 1, many other countries have used different kinds of Covid-19 vaccines for the two shots and the efficacy is still ensured.
The HCMC Department of Health had earlier written to Thu Duc City and districts, asking them to direct medical centers to administer the second vaccine shot.
Specifically, from September 1 to 15, the city will vaccinate over 703,600 people who got the AstraZeneca vaccine as the first shot from June 20 to July 15, some 446,100 people who received the Moderna vaccine from August 1 to 15, over 24,900 people who got the Pfizer vaccine from August 11 to 25 and nearly 859,200 people who were administered the Vero Cell vaccine from August 13 to 25.
Moreover, Thu Duc City and districts must make a list of residents aged from 18 who have yet to receive a Covid-19 vaccine shot and vaccinate them.