Workers at LG Display Việt Nam in Hải Phòng City receive booster COVID-19 vaccine shots. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Thu

HÀ NỘI — On the last day of 2021, Việt Nam’s total number of COVID-19 vaccines administered crossed 150 million doses, a significant milestone reached four months earlier than planned.

According to the health ministry, more than 1.6 million doses were given on Thursday (December 30), bringing the total to more than 150.93 million doses, just six weeks after the country hit the 100 million mark on November 16.

137,305,579 shots have been administered for the adult population (aged 18 and above), including 69,970,003 first doses and 63,287,656 second doses, 1,171,258 third Abdala vaccine doses, 994,301 additional doses, and 1,882,362 booster doses.

First-dose coverage among people aged 18 and above has hit 99.4 per cent, and second-dose coverage in this age group reached 89.9 per cent.

The coverage rates in the northern region are 96.1 per cent and 86.8 per cent, 96.8 per cent and 88.2 per cent in the central region, and 100 per cent and 92.6 per cent in the southern region.

40 out of 63 cities and provinces in Việt Nam reported higher than 95 per cent of first-dose coverage in the adult population, 14 with coverage between 90-95 per cent, and even nine provinces with the lowest figures still boasted over 95 per cent coverage.

31 out of 63 localities reported over 90 per cent of two-dose coverage.

Regarding immunisation of children aged 12-17, 12,013,079 doses have been administered in total, including 7,548,180 first doses and 4,464,899 second doses (Việt Nam only uses Pfizer vaccines for this age group).

After commencing the drive in late November starting with HCM City and southern localities, to date, first-dose coverage hits 83 per cent while second dose coverage reaches 49.1 per cent of this age group.

Twenty localities – Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Bắc Ninh, Quảng Ninh, Lạng Sơn, Thừa Thiên Huế, Đà Nẵng, Khánh Hòa, TP. Hồ Chí Minh, Tiền Giang, Long An, Tây Ninh, An Giang, Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, Vĩnh Long, Bình Dương, Bạc Liêu, Hậu Giang – have basically completed the vaccination drive for children aged 12-17 years.

39 localities, starting first with HCM City in mid-December, have begun the rollout of additional and booster vaccine shots.

In the face of the Omicron threat, health authorities have called on everyone to get vaccinated.

The health ministry has asked local health departments to expedite inoculation campaigns for people aged 12 and above, not to leave anyone eligible for the shot unvaccinated, as well as organise more mobile vaccination sites and deploy at-home vaccination teams to provide the shots to housebound people (especially the elderly and seriously ill).

After the first COVID-19 vaccine shot was administered to frontline workers in early March, amid the critical shortage of vaccine on a global scale, the health ministry’s COVID-19 inoculation drive released earlier this year aimed to reach the 150 million dose milestone, or around 75 per cent of the near 100 million population to be doubly vaccinated, by April 2022.

However, aggressive vaccine diplomacy has helped Việt Nam secure enough doses for the population, while speedy vaccination and high vaccine acceptance has helped achieve the current impressive rate.

AstraZeneca, Sinopharm's Vero Cell, and Pfizer are the three most used COVID-19 vaccine products in Việt Nam.

According to Our World In Data, Việt Nam ranks eighth in the world in terms of total doses given, after mainland China (2.7 billion), India (1.44 billion), United States (506 million), Brazil (331 million), Indonesia (271 million), Japan (200 million), and Pakistan (153 million). — VNS