HCMC, Da Nang to vaccinate journalists against Covid-19

The HCMC Department of Health has requested a list of reporters participating in the Covid-19 fight for vaccination, local media reported.

Nguyen Thi Phuong, deputy director of the Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, on Wednesday said the department has requested news agencies in the city to provide lists of reporters who work directly inside areas with a high risk of Covid-19 infection to be vaccinated.

Journalists are listed among frontline workers in the Covid-19 fight in Vietnam, alongside people working in quarantine zones and members of committees for Covid-19 prevention and control. This means they are among those prioritized to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health.

HCMC is set to receive around 56,000 additional Covid-19 vaccine doses produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, prioritized for medical workers, airport personnel and frontline workers, and also to give certain people their second vaccine shots, according to the municipal health department. So far, over 7,800 city residents have received their first jabs, according to the HCMC Center for Disease Control.

Da Nang plans to vaccinate over 46,000 citizens by the third quarter, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

Vietnam has inoculated over 62,000 people so far with the AstraZeneca vaccine. It aims to secure 150 million doses to cover 70 percent of its population by next year.