Up to 10 million COVID-19 vaccines set for delivery to Vietnam soon

Between eight million and 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be delivered to the country in July through the COVAX facility and signed contracts, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has revealed.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long chairs a meeting of the Steering Committee for the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the 2021- 2022 period

During a meeting of the Steering Committee for the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the 2021 to 2022 period in Hanoi on July 2, Minister Long said additional vaccines will also be shipped to the nation in September and October.

Moving forward, the country aims to achieve herd immunity in early 2022 as it strives to inoculate roughly 70% of its population.

As a means of achieving this goal, a large number of vaccines will be sent to Vietnam in the near future, with the largest ever vaccination campaign to be launched in the nation's history.

Most notably, top priority will be given to vaccine storage, transportation, distribution, and organisation of mobile vaccination stations in order to ensure the safety of local people, Minister Long emphasised.

The vaccination drive is anticipated to have roughly 19,000 vaccination sites, with the use of information technology at these locations in order to strictly monitor the number of vaccine doses, registered, and vaccinated people.

As part of draft plans outlining the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Dang Quang Tan, director general of the Preventive Medicine Department, said the drive will take place from July through to April, 2022.

The ultimate goal is to vaccinate at least 50% of people aged 18 and above, while 70% of the population will be injected by the end of the first quarter of next year.

The drive will be deployed on a nationwide scale, with priority given to people residing in pandemic-hit localities and industrial parks.