The northern province of Quảng Ninh is focusing on vaccinating children aged 5–11 against COVID-19 as the new school year starts. — VNA/VNS Photo

QUẢNG NINH — As the new academic year begins, the northern province of Quảng Ninh is focusing on providing children aged 5-11 with their second COVID-19 vaccination and those aged 12-18 with their third dose.

District and communal administrations are working with health authorities to review records of students eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines and guarantee safe and effective inoculation.

With new COVID-19 cases on the rise again, communication campaigns are also being accelerated to raise public awareness on virus control measures and the benefits of vaccination.

As of September 4, more than 4.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the province. They included nearly 3.5 million doses injected on people aged over 18, more than 355,000 on children aged 12 – 18, and close to 290,000 on those aged 5 – 12.

About 99.8 per cent of the people aged above 18 had been given at least one vaccine dose. More than 99 per cent of the children aged 12–18 had received at least one shot while the rate of those getting the third dose had exceeded 96 per cent.

Around 99 per cent of children aged 5–12 have been vaccinated with one dose and 96.78 per cent have had two.

More than 7,000 children aged between 5 and 17 in HCM City were vaccinated against COVID-19 during the National Day holidays, according to the municipal Department of Health.

The department said that the vaccinations were carried out throughout the holidays from September 1 to 4 in the face of rising numbers of new COVID-19 infections and severe cases, threatening those yet to be fully inoculated.

During the holidays, 242 vaccination sites were set up across the city to administer vaccines to 15,525 people, including 5,394 aged between 5 and 11, 1,774 aged between 12 and under 18, and 8,357 aged 18 and above.

As of September 4, statistics show that HCM City had administered 23,302,144 vaccine doses.

The city will press on with COVID-19 vaccination for children aged between 5 and 18 through September 30, the health department said, noting that it has asked the Department of Education and Training, relevant agencies, and district-level administrations to increase communications to encourage child vaccination.

It added that aside from conducting inoculation at schools, hospitals and health stations, the local health sector will continue deploying vaccination vans to expand the vaccination coverage among local students.

The southern province of An Giang is also urging faster vaccination and conducting mobile vaccination sites in areas with low inoculation rates in children aged 5 to 11 years old, and low booster coverage in the adult population.

As of September 4, 100 per cent of the adults in An Giang have received at least one dose of vaccine, with the second dose rate reaching 99.6 per cent.

The first booster in the adult population is at 67 per cent, while 89.7 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 in the province have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine; 72.8 per cent have received two doses. — VNS