Vietnam starts COVID-19 vaccination

NDO – Vietnam officially starts its COVID-19 vaccination on March 8, with the AstraZeneca vaccine to be given to medical workers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the northern province of Hai Duong first.

Early this morning, trucks transported the vaccine from Hanoi to injection sites in Hai Duong – the country’s biggest pandemic hotspot at present and the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2 in Hanoi’s outskirt district of Dong Anh.

The vaccine transportation process ensured proper cold storage and followed all the requisite transport requirements.

As one among 13 localities provided with the vaccine in the first phase, Hai Duong was allocated 33,000 doses, with the Hai Duong Centre for Disease Control receiving the most with 32,000 doses.

According to the set plan, this morning, Hai Duong City Health Centre injected 50 people and the Kim Thanh District Health Centre 30.

Medical screening carried out before injection at Hai Duong City Health Centre.

Pham Thi Tuyet Nhung, 40, an employee at the Hai Duong City Health Centre who is responsible for taking samples, was the first to receive the injection.

Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen vaccinating Do Thi Nhai, a member of the medical staff of Tan Hung Commune in Hai Duong City.

In Hanoi, at 8am, the vaccine was transferred from a refrigerated tank to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2 in Dong Anh.

In order to safely and efficiently deploy COVID-19 vaccination for all medical staff, the hospital has arranged three injection tables with all necessary means and techniques, while closely monitoring the injected persons.

The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2 was allocated with 450 doses under the set plan of the Ministry of Health.

One of the first nurses vaccinated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2.

The health of those who received the first COVID-19 vaccine has been stable up until now, according to the Ministry of Health. Today, around 280 frontline medical workers will be injected, with 100 at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2, 100 others at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Tropical Diseases and 80 in Hai Duong.

Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan said that this COVID-19 vaccination series was the start of the largest-ever vaccination campaign that Vietnam has carried out with more than 100 million shots to be injected nationwide, proving a huge investment from the Government to effectively prevent and combat the epidemic, contributing to the protection, care and improvement of the people’s health.