Specifically, 8 million doses will be shipped to Vietnam in July.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized that while vaccines are scarce, people are very interested in those who are prioritized for vaccination.

The Ministry of Health expects that from now until late September, all high-risk groups and workers will be vaccinated.

In the current situation, the Ministry of Health is asked to have a plan to estimate the time for the vaccination of the first and the second dose as well as a plan to inject the first dose for a large number of people or reserve enough vaccines for the injection of both doses. In addition, the Ministry was asked to consider using the same or different type of vaccine for the second dose.

After all of the priority subjects are vaccinated and herd immunity is achieved, the Ministry of Health will prepare to activate the expanded vaccination mechanism (free of charge) and the paid-service.

To date, Vietnam has received a total of nearly 4.5 million doses of vaccine, including nearly 2.5 million doses supported by the Covax Facility, and more than 400,000 doses purchased through the local vaccine delivery company VNVC, as well as 1 million doses donated by Japan and 500,000 doses presented by China.

However, vaccinations in Vietnam have been quite slow, with 2.56 million doses being used.

Thuy Hanh