HCMC – HCMC has run out of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine and is unable to provide the second shot in due time to people who have received the first jab.
According to the Ministry of Health’s instructions, people should be given the same vaccine as their first and second shots. Only those who have got AstraZeneca as the first shot can be given the Pfizer vaccine as the second shot in case of limited Covid-19 vaccines, news site VnExpress reported.
Doctor Nguyen Hong Tam, deputy director of the HCMC Center for Disease Control (HCDC), said the city has yet to receive the Moderna vaccine to administer the second shot.
Associate Professor Dr Duong Thi Hong, head of the National Expanded Program on Immunization under the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said the Ministry of Health had earlier instructed localities to retain half of the allocated Moderna vaccine for the second shot as Vietnam was yet to buy more doses of the vaccine.
The ministry allocated all Moderna vaccine doses to localities and did not stock up the vaccine for the second jab. To date, Vietnam has received five million Moderna doses presented by the United States and more than 40,000 doses donated by the Czech Republic.
Tam from HCDC said HCMC’s healthcare sector was mulling scientific solutions to vaccinate those who have got the Moderna vaccine as the first shot.
Doctor Nguyen Hien Minh at the HCMC University Medical Center said the efficacy rate of the vaccine would not drop if the second shot was administered later than recommended by the vaccine producer.
At a recent press briefing, Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam said the city planned to use some 6.7 million vaccine doses for the second shot. 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 17, 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.
