A health worker checks the body temperature of a motorcyclist at a coronavirus checkpoint. The Ministry of Health on June 14 sent an urgent dispatch to the organizations that had taken delivery of Covid-19 vaccine, saying they must speed up the vaccination process - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The Ministry of Health on June 14 sent an urgent dispatch to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nha Trang and HCMC Pasteur Institutes and the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology urging them to speed up the Covid-19 vaccination process.

On the same day, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security and the governments of provinces and cities also received a similar dispatch from the ministry that called on them to accelerate the vaccination.

The ministry asked the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to quickly allocate doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the relevant agencies prior to June 18 so that the inoculation program runs smoothly.

The provinces and cities were told to deploy the vaccination program as soon as they take delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine doses and get it done before August 15 this year.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long on the same day signed a decision setting up a task force in charge of supporting the fight against Covid-19 in HCMC, which is led by Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son.

The task force also has three deputy heads: Nguyen Tri Thuc, director of Cho Ray Hospital, Phan Trong Lan, head of the Pasteur Institute in HCMC, and Dang Van Chinh, head of the HCMC Public Health Institute.

The task force will be in charge of treating Covid-19 patients, keeping a close watch on the development of Covid-19 as well as testing and quarantining suspected cases in HCMC.

As of June 14, the total number of doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered to people nationwide had reached over 1.49 million, with some 55,270 people getting two shots.