As part of the Da Nang COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the 2021- 2022 period, about 46,321 people residing across the city are expected to be inoculated against COVID-19 in the second and third quarters of this year.

A female medical worker from the Da Nang Lung Hospital, the only medical facility in the city where COVID-19 imported cases are being treated, being injected with COVID-19 vaccine in mid March

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

Those who will be vaccinated against COVID-19 must belong to lists of priority groups eligible for free access to vaccinations in line with the Ministry of Health’s guidance.

Besides medical staff and frontline workers against COVID-19, others in the priority list include teachers, diplomatic personnel, customs and immigration officers, those working in essential services like transport, people aged 65 and above, the poor and those with chronic diseases that make them more vulnerable to the disease. People who are seeking to study or work abroad or are living in pandemic-hit areas are also put on the priority list for COVID-19 vaccination.

Of special note, the priority will be given to inoculating the above-mentioned target subjects in communes /wards where locally- transmitted COVID-19 cases, or even deaths, are reported, districts having high population density and housing industrial zones, and other locales, deepening on vaccine distribution levels.

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

The inoculated have to be given guidelines on how to monitor their health and note post-injection reactions.

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

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by A.T