Illustrative image. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is striving to give two COVID-19 vaccine shots to 95 per cent of 8.1 million children aged between 12 and 17 years old in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the Ministry of Health.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Đỗ Xuân Tuyên, the ministry is designing a roadmap implementing COVID-19 vaccination for children, initially for children from 12-17 years old.

The ministry is scheduled to issue guidelines on the implementation of the work on October 15.

Tuyên said that the ministry is also making a list of children from 3-11 years old, while seeking vaccine sources. It is also gathering ideas from experts and scientists so as to be ready to give guidance on vaccinations for this group.

Together with the country's progress in vaccination, the education-training and health sector are working together to make plans of vaccination for particular groups of children, thus generally reopening schools.

Tuên asked localities to direct their departments of Education and Training to review and assess the pandemic prevention and control work in order to allow students to return to school.

At a working session with representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam said that the Government has issued a resolution that sets a target of basically controlling COVID-19 in the whole country by the end of this year, returning to the new normal situation. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training’s plans should match that goal, he asked.

The Ministry of Education and Training was requested to review regulations on pandemic safety at school in the current circumstance when teachers and parents are fully vaccinated and students from 12-17 are to receive vaccine shots soon.

So far, over 57 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been injected for people aged 18 years old and above across the country, including over 39 million people, or 54 per cent of the total adults, receiving the first shots, and 16 million others, or over 22 per cent, have got the full two shots. — VNS