The first 100 COVID-19 vaccine doses were handed over to the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control (CDC) by the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Vaccine JSC (VNVC) on Thursday morning.

CDC Da Nang completing compulsory paperwork to receive the first 100 COVID-19 vaccine doses from VNVC Da Nang on Thursday morning

Under Vietnamese Health Ministry's COVID-19 vaccination plans, these AstraZeneca shots will be injected into medical workers sat the Da Nang Lung Hospital where COVID-19 imported cases will be treated in the coming time.

Medical staff is amongst the 11 priority groups of people eligible for the first COVID-19 vaccination in Viet Nam.

Before the vaccine handover took place, functional bodies together had carefully checked the vaccine numbers, name, lot numbers and expiry dates to ensure the vaccine quality.

Doctor Ton That Thanh, Director of CDC Da Nang, said that the preservation of these vaccine doses meets the standards set by Vietnamese Ministry of Health on the storage of vaccines for immunisation activities.

CDC Da Nang staff checking the storage temperature for the vaccine before the reception

The aforementioned 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.

By PHAN CHUNG- Translated by A.T