Vaccination will be sped up once more vaccines available: Deputy Minister

The Ministry of Health (MoH) will cooperate with the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Public Security to speed up the inoculation to up to 2 million shots of vaccines a day, said Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan.

Speaking at a monthly government press conference held in Hanoi on August 11, he said the MoH will accelerate the vaccination when more vaccines arrive in the country.

As many as 11 million out of 18 million allocated doses of vaccines have been administered to people, accounting for 65%, Thuan said.

Ho Chi Minh City, which is the country's current largest pandemic hotspot, is leading the inoculation campaign with over 3.5 million doses administered out of more than 4 million doses it had received, or 88.2%. The capital of Hanoi has injected about 1.5 million out of 3 million doses that the city has been allocated.

Thuan said the vaccination rate will be accelerated in Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces in the coming days.

The deputy minister said the viewpoint of the MoH is injecting the vaccines quickly but it must ensure safety from preparation, medicine, mobile vehicles and medical equipment. Emergency resuscitation is must be helpful for the vaccination.

The MoH has also transferred 10,000 doses of imported drugs from India to provide for the treatment of patients in the southern provinces, he said.

More than 11,000 medical workers and students have been mobilised to support Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces.

Thuan said he hoped that with the drastic participation of the entire political system from the central and local levels, the MoH and the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the situation will be soon stabilised and the pandemic will be put under control in the next month.