HCMC vaccinates 710,000+ against Covid-19 in a week

In total, 797,420 had registered to get the vaccine, though more than 13 percent missed out due to health issues or concurrent medication, Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the city’s Health Department, told a Monday meeting.

Of the vaccinated, 312,269 are industrial zone workers and the rest residents of high-risk areas, state workers, airport and seaport staff, along with those on the frontline of Covid prevention.

The total figure also includes 26,000 medics at private healthcare facilities, said Binh.

The city had on June 19 launched a major vaccination campaign against Covid-19, the biggest in the city and nation's history. It planned to use up 806,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine within seven days. These are part of the 966,320 doses provided by Japan.

According to the municipal Health Department, of the vaccinated in the past eight days, 676 experienced post-injection reactions, of which 101 were anaphylactic. All are now in stable condition.

The city has received more than 870,000 doses so far and has launched four vaccination campaigns since March 8, when Vietnam started its mass inoculation program.

For the three previous campaigns, the city immunized more than 145,300 people, most of them medical workers.

Ho Chi Minh City is being hit by the worst outbreak ever with 3,280 cases recorded since April 27, when the fourth Covid-19 wave hit Vietnam.

For the past ten days, the number of infections in HCMC has continuously accounted for most daily community cases recorded nationwide.

The city is now the second most infected after the northern Bac Giang Province.