People in Hà Nội get vaccinated on Thursday. Viêt Nam has achieved the milestone of administering 50 million COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — A total of 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Việt Nam to date.

The Ministry of Health has asked localities to speed up the progress of vaccinations, stressing it will likely receive a large amount of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of this year as the country is now a third of the way through the national vaccine rollout plan.

A representative of the health ministry said Việt Nam started a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in July, the largest-ever immunisation drive in the country, to achieve the target of fully administering 150 million doses for 70 per cent of the population by the end of next April.

On Thursday, the country has achieved the milestone of administering 50 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. On Wednesday alone, more than 1,167,620 doses were given.

The ministry expected that many COVID-19 vaccine doses will be available in Việt Nam soon, so localities should speed up the vaccination progress, increasing the rate of first-shot coverage and ensuring the supply of second shots on time.

The ministry has asked the People's Committees of cities and provinces to complete the cold chain system for vaccine storage and prepare for facilities, equipment and human resources to safely and effectively carry out vaccinations in the coming months.

Localities must give the highest priority to vaccinate all citizens on schedule and ensure not a single dose is wasted.

Deputy Minister of Health Đỗ Xuân Tuyên said that by the first half of 2022, about 150 million doses will arrive in Việt Nam. Of those, 55 million doses will land by the end of this year.

The ministry has devised plans to quickly allocate vaccines to localities, he said.

Figures from the ministry showed that on October 5, the coverage rate of one dose of vaccine for the population aged 18 and over in the north was 45.8 per cent; the central region 42.6 per cent; the Central Highlands 15.4 per cent, and the south 59.2 per cent.

Hà Nội, Quảng Ninh, Khánh Hoà, HCM City, Long An and Bình Dương are six provinces and cities with the highest coverage of at least one dose of vaccine for over 90 per cent of the respective adult population.

Lạng Sơn, Đà Nẵng and Đồng Nai provinces have a rate of about 80-90 per cent of the population, followed by Hà Nam, Bắc Ninh, Yên Bái and Phú Yên provinces with a coverage rate of between 50 and 70 per cent of the population. — VNS