HCMC – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has told cities and provinces nationwide to complete administering the second Covid-19 vaccine dose to adults 18 and older by the end of this year.
At a recent national anti-Covid steering committee meeting, the Government leader also asked local authorities to accelerate the vaccination of children to reopen schools and come up with a plan to administer the third shot to those who already received two doses.
Besides the import of Covid vaccines, the country must have Covid vaccines made locally, the local media reported.
PM Chinh said the number of new locally-infected cases last week was higher than the previous week. Therefore, a close watch needs to be kept on the developments of the pandemic.
Some parts of the country have not effectively deployed the Government’s Resolution 128 on safe and flexible adaptation to the pandemic.
He asked the Ministry of Health to improve its anti-virus strategy and submit it to the competent agencies before November 30.
According to a Ministry of Health report, since Resolution 128 came out a month ago, despite a 2.9% spike in new cases, severe illness and death have dipped by 40.8% and 46.3% month-on-month, respectively.
However, new infection clusters might emerge and the risk of community spread remains high.
The ministry added that the country had administered 106 million vaccine doses to residents and 18 cities and provinces had vaccinated children aged 12 to 17.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, this month, more vaccine shipments will arrive in Vietnam, sufficient to give the second shots to adults 18 and older. The Ministry of Health should immediately allocate more doses to localities as soon as they arrive in the country.
