The Ho Chi Minh City Health Department has recently submitted to the municipal People’s Committee a proposal for purchasing 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from an US producer to meet local demand.

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (Source: AFP/VNA)

It is estimated that there are 9 million people eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in the city. This means it will need 18 million doses. 

The local health department has secured a deal with the US-based company Moderna, with the firm agreeing to supply the city with 5 million doses of the mRNA-1273 vaccine in the third quarter of this year.

The vaccine for people over 18 years old is recognised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as safe, highly effective, and having no serious side effects.

According to data from FDA and Moderna, mRNA-1273 can prevent asymptomatic infections after the first shot. Its efficacy rate was 94.1 percent among 30,000 people tested. For people over 65 years of age, the rate was 86 percent. The most common side effects include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain.

According to the proposal, the money used for the purchase will be sourced from the State budget for pandemic prevention and control work and donations of individual and organisation sponsors.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health has allocated to Ho Chi Minh City more than 9,000 doses from the first imported batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Source: VNA