A medical worker is injected with the Covid-19 vaccine in Hanoi. Up to now, the city has vaccinated nearly 8,050 citizens against Covid-19 – PHOTO: MINISTRY OF HEALTH
HCMC – Hanoi has injected nearly 8,050 citizens with the Covid-19 vaccine so far, exceeding initial expectations, and expects to give Covid-19 vaccine shots to 350,000 people this year, Tran Thi Nhi Ha, director of the Hanoi Department of Health, said at a meeting on April 12.
In the second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, Hanoi has been allocated 53,000 vaccine doses, which will be prioritized for medical workers and members of the Covid-19 monitoring team.
“The city targets to vaccinate 350,000 citizens against Covid-19 in 2021. By 2022, when there are more vaccine supplies, including locally made vaccines, the city will expand the vaccine eligibility to other groups of people,” Nhi said.
According to Hoang Duc Hanh, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Health, the city reported six new imported Covid-19 cases between April 5 and 12. They were immediately put under quarantine after arriving in the city, posing no risks of community transmission. The city has reported no new domestic infections over the past two months.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic is still developing complicatedly elsewhere around the world, including some countries in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia. Therefore, the risk of Covid-19 outbreaks remains high.
Covid-19 infection prevention and control is still Hanoi City’s priority for socioeconomic development in the next normal.
In related news, the Health Department of the southern province of Binh Duong has submitted to the provincial People’s Committee a proposal to purchase Covid-19 vaccines for local people.
The department proposed using the provincial budget to buy 3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to vaccinate more than 1.4 people aged 18 or older. The people will be vaccinated for free, said director of the provincial Health Department Nguyen Hong Chuong.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of HCMC on April 12 received over VND34 billion (US$1.47 million) donated by businesspeople, local residents and overseas Vietnamese through the “Millions of Hearts – One Soul – Vaccines for Covid-19 Fight” program to buy Covid-19 vaccines.
Earlier on March 15, chairwoman of the committee To Thi Bich Chau received VND1 billion from the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha's HCMC chapter in support of the effort.
As of April 12, the HCMC Covid-19 infection prevention and control fund had received over VND269.7 billion, including supplies and equipment worth some VND90.5 billion, from donors at home and abroad.
According to the HCMC Department of Health, from now until April 16, the city will receive 1,600 Covid-19 vaccine doses, which will be prioritized for employees of hotels that serve as quarantine centers.
In addition, the city will receive an additional 56,200 Covid-19 vaccine doses from the Ministry of Health. These doses will be prioritized for medical workers, airport staff, frontline workers and employees at agencies that have contact with a large number of people.
