Covid vaccine in Vietnam: First shots to be taken in March

First shots of the inoculation against Covid-19 in Vietnam is scheduled to be taken in March.

Vietnam took first human trial of Covid vaccines in December 2020. Photo: VGP

Beneficiaries of the vaccination in the country will be health employees and frontline workers who are those involve in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, staff in quarantine centers, reporters, among others, the Ministry of Health has said.

As scheduled, 204,000 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine will arrive in Vietnam on February 28.

According to the World Health Organization’s COVAX Interim Distribution Forecast, Vietnam will get between 4.88 and 8.25 indicative doses.

The amount of 4.88 million doses will be delivered in the first quarter (25%-35%) and in the second quarter (65%-75%).

The ministry on February 22 announced routine delivery and beneficiaries of the first doses.

In the first quarter, the country is likely get 1.2 million doses for roughly 600,000 people who are health employees and frontline workers.

In the second quarter, around 3.6 million doses will be injected to 1.8 million people who are customs, diplomats, policemen, army officers, and teachers.

In the third and fourth quarter, Vietnam is expected to get the remaining doses from COVAX Facility and 30 million doses purchased from AstraZeneca/Oxford. Teachers and people more than 65 years of age are subject to the shots.

The Ministry of Health said COVAX vaccines will benefit import tariff exemption and get direct custom clearance upon arrival before being transferred to storage for quality verification.

The ministry has listed 11 groups of people in the vaccination priority list, including health employees; frontline workers; Vietnamese diplomats, customs, employees of immigration services; army officers; policemen; teachers; people above 65 years of age; people supplying essential services like aviation, transportation, electricity, safe water, among others; people with underlying diseases; people who are in need of overseas trips; people in affected areas.

According to Prof. Tran Van Thuan, deputy Health Minister, the first shots should be taken to frontline health workers, people in affected areas and the elderly with underlying diseases.

According to Financial Times, at least 208,317,348 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered around the world.

Vaccine rollouts in advanced economies are largely outpacing those in emerging and developing economies — even in countries with similar death rates. Officials at the World Health Organization have warned that the world is on the brink of “catastrophic moral failure” as poor countries fall behind. Left unchecked, the virus could also mutate into strains that existing vaccines do not protect against.