Da Nang began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Friday with 100 AstraZeneca shots prioritised for medical workers who are now participating in coronavirus prevention tasks at the Lung Hospital, the only medical facility in the city where COVID-19 imported cases are being treated.

The medical workers completing personal information declarations prior to getting COVID-19 vaccine

The inoculation was within the framework of the Vietnamese Health Ministry's COVID-19 vaccination drive which started on 8 March.

The vaccinated are medical staffers from the Lung Hospital, the General Hospital, the Cancer Hospital and the Hospital of Maternity and Pediatrics.

“It is great honour for us to become the first persons in Da Nang to be given COVID-19 jabs. The inoculation, indeed, helps medical workers like us feel more secure and highly motivated to continue with our efforts in Viet Nam's fight against the coronavirus. Hopefully, in the shortest possible time, all healthcare workers in Da Nang, and Viet Nam at large, will be get vaccinated against the deadly virus. ”, said Doctor Le Thanh Phuc, Director of the Lung Hospital.

The 100 doses were part of a first batch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, part of an order of 204,000 doses approved by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in collaboration with the UK-based Oxford University. The vaccine shipment of the 117,600 shots arrived in Viet Nam on 24 February.

According to VNVC, which is the importer, the AstraZeneca vaccine provides a high immune response from 62 percent to 90 percent. Study results showed that 100 percent of the vaccinated people had an immune response to COVID-19 without any serious complications.

Under the regulations of the Ministry of Health, COVID-19 vaccination sites must meet strict standards for storing and preserving the vaccines, be arranged to include designated areas for reception, waiting, clinical screening, vaccination rooms, post-injection monitoring rooms, and anaphylactic treatment rooms with one-way rule, be equipped with anaphylactic treatment boxes, and comply with epidemic prevention regulations.

The Ministry of Health also requires pre-vaccination screening on all vaccinated people. They have to be given guidelines on how to monitor their health and note post-injection reactions.

The medical workers making confirmation to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination

The vaccination being done in the order of registration - counseling - examination - injection and post- injection monitoring procedures

Pre-injection screening is a very important step as those who show abnormal signs of health are not allowed to get vaccinated.

Doctor Le Thanh Phuc, Director of the Da Nang Lung Hospital being injected with COVID-19 vaccine

The preservation of the vaccine doses meets the standards set by Vietnamese Ministry of Health on the storage of vaccines for immunisation activities.

Nurse Nguyen Thi Bay, 54, is happy to be amongst the first persons in Da Nang to receive COVID-19 vaccine. She has participated in the coronavirus prevention and control from August 2020 when Da Nang was a COVID-19 epicentre in Viet Nam

The medical staff waiting for their turns to get vaccinated whilst keeping a safe distances from others

After the injection, the vaccinated are taken to post-injection monitoring rooms. All of them receive certificates of vaccination against COVID-19 issued by the local preventive medicine unit.

The Ministry of Health now runs COVID-19 post-vaccination response monitoring software so that medical staff can take intervention measures in a timely manner.

By PHAN CHUNG- Translated by A.T