A medical worker in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province in central Việt Nam prepares an AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot for injection. — VNA/VNS Photo Mai Trang

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health has just issued a document asking municipal and provincial authorities to review their needs for COVID-19 vaccines, including plan for third and fourth booster shots in 2022.

According to the document, the health ministry wants localities to take stock of the vaccination situation in their jurisdictions to state their demands for vaccines for people aged 18 and above (amount of vaccines, types of vaccines, timeframe to ensure proper space between two doses, etc.) so it could devise a plan for vaccine allocation in November and December.

The number of children in the three age brackets – 3-11 years old, 12-15 years old, 16-17 years old – must also be submitted to the health ministry.

Việt Nam currently uses various COVID-19 vaccines for adults, but only approves Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for children, and currently those 16-17 years old are prioritised.

Localities also need to build a plan for vaccination in 2022 for children from three years old and above and adults, including plans for third and fourth booster shots for people who have already received the full two doses, the health ministry said.

It is expected that in late 2021, a large amount of COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in Việt Nam – out of the unfulfilled contracts and other international commitments – so localities need to be prepared, both in terms of human resources and facilities, to speed up vaccination drives, coverage, and contain the disease in a shortest timeframe, the health ministry noted.

Localities should expedite coverage of first dose and full two doses for people aged 50-65 and above to protect these more vulnerable groups against severe COVID-19 and risks of fatalities.

The health ministry also ordered local health agencies to pay attention to updating vaccinated people's records on the COVID-19 apps.

The move was seen as primarily preparatory at the moment since Việt Nam is still facing a vaccine shortage. The health ministry said it has received and distributed over 105 million doses of vaccine so far, with AstraZeneca accounting for the most at 38.5 million doses, followed by Sinopharm at 37.7 million doses and Pfizer at 16.4 million.

83 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Việt Nam to date, with just 24.5 million people receiving double shots out of its population of near 100 million.

The two biggest cities, Hà Nội and HCM City, have given the most vaccines, with 9.8 million and 13.3 million shots, respectively, followed by southern hot spots like Đồng Nai and Bình Dương provinces.

HCM City's health authorities said it is devising plans to get booster shots for high risk groups, including frontline workers, in the final two months of 2021. — VNS