The sign leading to Kim Việt Shoe Ltd.Co. —VNA/VNS Photo

THANH HÓA — Two people in central Thanh Hóa Province died on Wednesday morning after getting the Vero Cell COVID-19 vaccine while three others are being treated at a local hospital, the provincial Department of Health confirmed.

They were inoculated on Tuesday. All of them are from Nông Cống District.

On Tuesday, the district’s health centre organised the second doses of Vero Cell vaccine for workers and employees at Kim Việt Shoe Co., Ltd in Nông Cống Town Industrial Complex. All people who registered for the vaccination underwent health screening by local medical workers and were advised about the kind of vaccine they would be vaccinated with as well as possible reactions.

During the vaccination, local medical workers found some people with reactions after injection. Five of them had serious symptoms and were diagnosed with anaphylaxis. They were immediately given emergency treatment at the site by medical workers of the districts’ General Hospital and then transferred to the provincial General Hospital for treatment.

However, two died at 0.45am and 8.45am on Wednesday, respectively.

The provincial Department of Health asked health experts to assess the cause and report to the Ministry of Health for further guidance.

Vero Cell COVID-19 Vaccine, Inactivated Vaccine was approved for emergency use in Việt Nam in early June. The vaccine is produced by China's Sinopharm.

Over 113 million doses of vaccine administered nationwide

Việt Nam administered more than 113 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of 3pm on Wednesday. 

As many as 35 out 63 localities report having vaccinated over 50 per cent of their adult population with two full jabs.

Meanwhile, 59 localities have inoculated more than 70 per cent of their adult population with the first dose, including 23 localities vaccinating more than 95 per cent of their citizens aged over 18 such as Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Hà Nam, Bắc Ninh, Vĩnh Phúc, Quảng Ninh, Đà Nẵng, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, HCM City, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, Đồng Nai, Long An, Lâm Đồng, Cần Thơ, Bến Tre, Vĩnh Long, Bình Dương, Kiên Giang and Hậu Giang.

Only four out of 63 provinces and cities posted lower than 70 per cent coverage of first dose among the adult population, namely Sơn La, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An and Quảng Bình.

The Ministry of Health aims to finish administering 150 million doses of vaccine (costing around US$1.1 billion) for 75 million people, or 75 per cent of the population by April 2022 to achieve herd immunity. VNS