HCMC vaccinates extra 500,000 in a week

By Manh Tung, Huu Cong   July 31, 2021 | 12:59 am PT
HCMC vaccinates extra 500,000 in a week
A Covid-19 vaccination station at Lanh Binh Thang Stadium in HCMC's District 11, July 22, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Dinh Van.
Nearly 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to HCMC residents since its fifth inoculation campaign launched on July 22.

For the ongoing campaign expected to last one more week, Ho Chi Minh City will use up 930,000 doses of AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, and a small amount of Sinopharm.

Across the city, 624 vaccination stations have been set up in 21 districts and Thu Duc City. People joining the Covid-19 frontline, the elderly and those with suffering diseases are among those on the priority list.

For the four previous campaigns, the city had vaccinated 991,322 people, with 48,107 getting two jabs.

After this campaign, the city with 13 million including migrants will start its sixth campaign to have two-thirds of those above 18 inoculated within August, Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc told a meeting Friday.

"Anyone currently living in the city will get the shot," Duc said, explaining the jab would also be available to migrants.

Starting from the fifth campaign, the city will have private hospitals participate to speed up the vaccination progress.

If necessary, inoculation could be carried out after 6 p.m. even as the city orders residents to stay home from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

According to the Ministry of Health, the vaccination procedure has been shortened and simplified.

To save time, people will be given consent forms for injections and medical history declarations to fill out at home while healthy people will be monitored for 15 minutes at each station instead of 30 minutes as before, said Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the municipal Health Department.

For almost a month now, HCMC has been the epicenter of Vietnam’s ongoing Covid-19 community wave.

The southern metropolis has recorded more than 88,500 cases so far in the wave that hit Vietnam in late April while the city’s health authorities said 815 have died since June, though most fatalities have yet to be officially confirmed by the Health Ministry.

Regarding the pandemic situation in the city, Vice Chairman Duc said the "infection chart is flattening towards a horizontal line as predicted."

If the city continues to strictly implement social distancing rules and all parts of society cooperate to follow them, the situation would improve and soon stabilize, he said.

The city, aside from night-time restrictions, has requested all to stay at home apart from going out for food, seeking medical care for emergency cases and working at agencies that are still allowed to open.

Those leaving their home to get food must show a stamp issued by local authorities and can only go out as per the designated date and timeline.

 
 
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