With more COVID-19 vaccines getting approved, and more people being vaccinated. Airlines publically announce that they would only allow vaccinated passengers on board its flights.
Vietnam’s Minister of Health will be conducting a pre-vaccination screening of the Covid-19 vaccine in order to guarantee the safety of the people who will take it, even though it will take longer.
Many people are concerned about getting the Covid-19 vaccine. Vietnam’s vaccination system will be linked internationally. A vaccine passport will be created that can be accessed digitally using a QR code. This is what Nguyen Thanh Long, the Minister of Health, has talked about during the online training conference regarding the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive.
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During the conference, the Minister of Health has also emphasized that the Covid-19 vaccine is the fastest vaccine ever produced in history. The vaccine is a result of the combined efforts of several researchers from around the world. Historically, it is the fastest developed, fastest-growing, and fastest used vaccine in the world.
Since there was not enough time given for the clinical trial and evaluation of the vaccine’s effectiveness, the duration of protection has not been fully established. Some vaccines claim to provide protection of up to two years, others for only one year, while there are also vaccines that can only offer protection for six months.
In line with this, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health will be conducting its own research and development of the Covid-19 vaccine to ensure the safety of its citizens. Since this is a new vaccine, the manner in which the Ministry of Health will offer the vaccination is very conservative. Even though the vaccine was released by the end of February, it still has to wait for the certificate of the factory to verify the quality of the entire batch of the vaccine. Because of this, the vaccination is scheduled to start on March 8.
The Ministry of Health is coordinating actively with COVAX and proposing to transfer more vaccines to Vietnam soon. They are hoping that there will be enough vaccine doses to arrive this month. In fact, they are expecting about 1.3 million doses of vaccine to arrive in March and many more doses in April or May.
During the Covid-19 vaccination, the Ministry of Health will prioritize certain subjects as stated in the Resolution 21 of the Government. These include persons who are directly involved in the prevention of the epidemic, reducing their risk of getting infected with the Covid-19 virus. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health will not allocate vaccines to the 63 localities, however, 13 cities and provinces that have epidemic outbreaks will be given a priority, most especially Hai Duong, which is now the hotspot for epidemic prevention.
On March 8, once the vaccination starts, the first doses will be allocated for the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases as well as the Hospital for Tropical Diseases of Ho Chi Minh City. The Ministry of Health will perform the vaccination in all facilities that are involved in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. They will give priority to the staff that is directly exposed to these patients.
To smooth out the process of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health will directly manage the data of each injecting person in the government’s health record system. To date, Vietnam has now created more than 97 million records.
In addition, the Ministry of Health has required each medical facility to download the software that they have created for the vaccination to go out smoothly. By downloading the health profile application, it will be easy for the health sector to increase the proactive surveillance of health facilities and receive feedback from the public quickly.
According to Minister Nguyen Thanh, Vietnam’s immunization system will be linked internationally. A vaccine passport will be created that can be accessed online using a QR code. He agreed that unexpected things could happen along the way, but he assured everyone that this should not undermine their vaccination campaign. Worldwide, millions of people are against the vaccine, but he stressed that the benefits of getting the vaccine are very clear, which is to offer protection to the public and the entire community.
The Minister of Health has stated that although the AstraZeneca Vaccine won’t be able to offer one hundred percent protection, you will not be severely affected in case you get infected with the virus. The vaccine will also minimize the chances of infected patients dying.
According to the health sector of Vietnam, the Ministry of Health will mobilize the entire sector to help with the vaccination since this will be the largest immunization drive in Vietnam so far. Furthermore, the Ministry of National Defense will be responsible for giving injections to the Defense Force.
The Ministry of Health urges everyone to stay calm while waiting for the next batch of vaccines to arrive. After conducting a pre-vaccination screening, they will immediately start with the vaccination drive.