HCMC – The Ministry of Health has listed 11 groups of individuals who will be prioritized to receive the first doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country.
The ministry has come up with a plan to receive, preserve, distribute and use Covid-19 vaccines in the 2021-2022 period with the support of COVAX Facility, aimed at ensuring that 20% of the country’s population will be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Specifically, the 11 groups consist of health care workers; those involved in the fight against the pandemic, including members of steering committees, employees at quarantine centers and journalists; diplomatic and customs officials; police officers; soldiers; teachers, people aged over 65; employees of providers of essential services such as aviation, transport, tourism and electricity and water supply; those suffering from chronic diseases, those that work or study abroad and those who reside in pandemic hotspots. Each of them will receive two doses, 21 days apart.
Under the plan, some 4.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine will be shipped to Vietnam in the first half of this year.
Of the total, the country will receive 1.2 million doses this quarter, so 600,000 people will first be injected with the vaccine, including 475,000 health care workers and 110,200 employees involved in the fight against the pandemic. The remaining 3.6 million doses will be transported to the country next quarter and 1.8 million people will be inoculated, including 8,700 customs officials, nearly 3,900 diplomatic officials, 975,700 troops, 288,800 policemen and 522,500 teachers.
In the second half of the year, 33 million doses of the vaccine will be provided to 712,500 teachers, 7.22 million people aged over 65, over 1.83 million essential service providers and 6.65 million adults with chronic diseases.
AstraZenecca’s Covid-19 vaccine will be imported to Vietnam through the Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat international airports.
According to COVAX Facility, AstraZenecca’s Covid-19 vaccine must be stored at temperatures of two to eight degrees Celsius.
Vietnam is capable of receiving, preserving and distributing the vaccine. However, nearly 2,200 fridges need to be provided to remote communes.
In addition, Vietnam can store some 16 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines that need to be preserved at between minus 25 and minus 15 degrees Celsius and three million doses of vaccines that require to be stored at minus 80 to minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Medical workers will be trained to inject the Covid-19 vaccines.
By Dao Loan
