HCMC uses social distancing period to ramp up vaccination campaign

This would involve one million doses of the Moderna vaccine – part of two million doses donated by the U.S. under the Covax facility and 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca's vaccine provided by Japan.

Those prioritized for vaccine administration are "vulnerable people" located in areas deemed at very high risk and high risk as also priority groups approved by the government, the municipal Department of Health said.

The city plans to organize about 630 vaccination sites in 312 wards and communes across the city. Each site will inject 120 people a day from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. to ensure social distancing.

The city has also designated several eligible hospitals to administer injections to groups of "vulnerable people," including those suffering from chronic diseases or at risk based on other factors.

Officials said the city will take advantage of the "golden" period of 15-day citywide social distancing campaign to deploy the vaccination program in parallel with mass testing and contact tracing to quickly contain the spread of the virus.

However, no specific start date was mentioned for administering the latest batch of vaccine doses, though the 15-day social distancing period began Friday.

HCMC, home to 13 million, has so far inoculated 991,332 people, with 48,107 of them getting both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The current epicenter of the ongoing fourth coronavirus wave recorded a total of 1,392 infections Sunday, the highest daily number since the pandemic broke out.

The city has recorded more than 13,000 infections since the fourth Covid-19 wave started late April.