HCMC – HCMC today, August 13, started administering one million doses of China’s Vero Cell Covid-19 vaccine to residents in Thu Duc City and districts after the vaccine was assessed and cleared for use by the Ministry of Health, said HCMC Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc.
At a press conference today on the pandemic in the city, Duc said the city had accelerated vaccinations over the past few days, with the highest of 318,000 doses per day. The city has administered most of the vaccines allocated by the Ministry of Health, the local media reported.
More than 456,000 people aged over 65 and having underlying conditions have been vaccinated, reaching over 70%. The city’s hospitals and clinics have inoculated over 4.3 million people, with some 100,000 of them getting two shots.
The city has proposed the Ministry of Health provide more doses. In addition, it will take advantage of all opportunities to access more vaccine supplies, Duc noted.
Specifically, the city will continue negotiations to buy five million Moderna doses, with two million doses expected to arrive in the city in October.
As for the city’s fight against the pandemic, Duc said the city would come up with a plan to enhance anti-pandemic measures from August 15 to September 19 in two phases, with one from August 15 to late August and one from September 1 to 15. The city strives to put the pandemic under control by September 15.
The city will map out specific tasks for each phase, Duc said.
Since August 5, the city has detected more than 3,000 new cases per day, mainly in areas on lockdown. Nearly 63,000 patients have recovered from the disease, while 32,000 others are receiving medical attention, with 1,500 of them in critical condition and 16 on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
The trajectory of the pandemic in the city remains unpredictable and the number of new cases has shown signs of declining but being unstable. The number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths remains high and after August 15, the number of new cases per day may still be over 3,000.
Duc said the city is focusing on the treatment of patients to reduce fatalities.
