Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. — AFP/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Minister of Health Trương Quốc Cường has just signed a decision on the allocation plan of 746,460 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to provinces, cities and hospitals across the country.

This is the 8th round of vaccine allocation, with previous ones primarily AstraZeneca doses.

The first batch of 97,110 doses arrived on July 7, and subsequent doses in the amount would come within this month, the decision noted.

Under the allocation decision, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) of HCM City, which is currently experiencing the highest numbers of infections in the country, will receive the largest number of doses with nearly 54,990 in total.

The capital city of Hà Nội's CDC will receive 38,610 doses, and Đồng Nai and Bình Dương provinces' CDCs, the two industrial bases in the southern region, will receive 25,740 doses each.

The military will be allocated 35,100 doses while police will get 43,290, respectively.

Other provinces and cities nation-wide will be allocated an average of 5,850 each.

There will also be 21 hospitals and universities nationwide designated as recipients of the Pfizer vaccine, of which Hà Nội’s Bạch Mai Hospital and Central Lung Hospital in Hà Nội will get the most with 15,210 doses each.

HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital and Hà Nôi’s Central Pediatric Hospital will receive 14,040 doses each, Hà Nội’s E Hospital will receive 12,870 doses, and HCM City’s Thống Nhất Hospital will receive 11,700 doses.

About 105,000 doses would go to HCM City in total if allocations for the city's hospitals are counted.

The Ministry of Health assigned the National Expanded Programme on Immunisation, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to receive, store and transport the vaccines.

The mRNA vaccine vials, after being taken from cold storage, could be kept at a temperature of 2-8 degrees but must be used up within 31 days.

In cases where the vaccines are not used up, or more are needed, recipient organisations should coordinate with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hà Nội or the Pasteur Institute in HCM City to actively re-allocate and organise further vaccinations.

The Ministry of Health has requested that due to the low number of vaccines available, Pfizer vaccine should be prioritised as a second shot to those who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine eight to 12 weeks before, if he/she consents, marking for the first time that the health body has given permission to implement vaccine mixing.

The WHO cautioned that the decision of vaccine mixing should be left with public health authorities, not individuals, and that there is still not much data on safety or immunogenicity evaluation of this regimen. 

As of July 13, 4,079,066 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, mostly AstraZeneca, have been administered in Việt Nam, with 283,884 having received the full two doses. — VNS