A woman gets a shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. Up to 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses are set to arrive in Vietnam in the fourth quarter of 2021 - PHOTO: NLDO

HCMC - A large number of Covid-19 vaccine doses will be shipped to Vietnam in the fourth quarter of the year, with up to 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses set to arrive in the country during the period, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long told an online anti-virus meeting today, August 2.

Minister Long said that in the third quarter of 2021, the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses shipped to Vietnam might remain low, but the fourth quarter will see a huge volume of doses, especially the Pfizer vaccine, arrive in the country, so provinces and cities must speed up the vaccination process.

The localities were told to mobilize as many forces as possible to join the vaccination drive and get ready for the upcoming allocations of doses.

The Ministry of Health also asked provinces and cities to accelerate the vaccination for areas on lockdown, the local media reported.

The localities should not limit the number of vaccination sites and shots per day per site. In addition, provinces and cities can decide how long vaccine recipients need to rest at the vaccination venue after receiving the vaccine, depending on their health condition.

Until date, Vietnam has taken delivery of over 17.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik-V and Sinopharm vaccines, with over 16 million doses allocated to Covid-19-hit provinces and cities.

However, as of August 2, a mere 6.5 million doses were administered to people in the country, with 660,000 of them fully vaccinated with two shots.

The national steering committee for Covid-19 vaccination said that the vaccination process remained slow in many localities. As such, the Ministry of Health will prioritize the allocation of Covid-19 vaccine doses for provinces and cities that conduct vaccination faster.