mRNA COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer/BioNTech's Corminaty and Moderna's Spikevax could be used as booster shots no matter the primary course. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Đức

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội has administered over 610,000 third COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents aged 18 years and above so far, according to the city's health department.

Trần Thị Nhị Hà, head of the department, said 172,000 are additional doses (defined by WHO as the third dose for target population where immune response rate following standard series is deemed insufficient, especially in immunocompromised people and older adults) and 441,000 booster shots.

100,000 people above 50 years old in the city have received the third vaccine doses.

Hà Nội's administration has ordered the completion of additional doses before January 31, 2022, and wanted all concerned authorities to "persistently raise awareness and encourage people to get vaccinations" to obtain 100 per cent vaccine coverage in the population 50 years old and above.

The current rate of third doses offered by Hà Nội's health authorities is about 70,000 on a daily basis in recent days.

After managing to reach second-dose vaccine coverage for nearly 99 per cent of people aged 18 years and above, Hà Nội is now 2nd after HCM City in terms of third doses given which has so far administered 1.1 million additional doses and 320,000 booster doses.

It should be noted the third dose figures are from Hà Nội-managed hospitals and medical centres and have not yet taken into account people who have got their booster doses at the central-level hospitals or State-level units headquartered in the capital city.

In a related development, the northern province of Quảng Ninh on Monday released its decision to push up the administration of booster shots for the 900,000 adult residents and strive to complete 700,000 doses within January or before the Lunar New Year (Tết) with the remaining expected to be rolled out between February and March for people who are not currently eligible.

The health department said it aimed to provide the booster shots for all in the eligible list, especially the high-risks group.

The province originally planned to wrap up the booster shot campaign within the first quarter of 2022.

3.5 million third doses, including 1.8 million additional doses, have been administered in 53 provinces and cities across the country.

The health ministry has cut the waiting time between the second dose and third dose to three months down from the previous six months, in response to the reportedly high transmissibility of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The country has logged 24 cases of Omicron so far, all imported from overseas and mostly asymptomatic. — VNS