The Da Nang Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control is urging the health agency to create action plan for the city’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign as the city is entering a “new phase” of its mass vaccination strategy. The intention is to make sure that the city is prepared to roll out the campaign for the city’s population as soon as 70,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Ministry of Health arrive in Da Nang.

Da Nang is getting ready for the new stage in its mass vaccination campaign Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Making carefully preparations for the campaign

Till date, more than 33,000 people across Da Nang have got inoculated against COVID-19.

“By 2022, the city is targeting to vaccinate over 90% of of adults who will be eligible to get vaccinated when vaccines are available. A maximum of about 20,000 people will be inoculated every day in Da Nang as soon as there are enough shots for everyone”, municipal People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh emphasized.

All adults in Da Nang will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine with a focus on the top 16 priority groups in accordance with the guidance produced by the Ministry of Health. Included are staff in public and private healthcare facilities, key staff and groups involved in infection prevention and control activities, military and police personnel, diplomats of Viet Nam, customs and immigration officers, essential service providers, teachers, school pupils, university and college students, people with long-term health conditions, people aged over 65, the poor, and social policy beneficiaries.

Doctor Ngo Thi Kim Yen, the Director of the Department of Health, said that since the beginning of 2021, the health agency has organised COVID-19 vaccination training for all health workers involved in implementation of COVID-19 vaccination in accordance with the guidance from the Ministry of Health. The intention is to make sure that all of them have adequate knowledge and skills in order to ensure safe and efficient COVID-19 vaccine administration. The course provides general information on COVID-19 and specific information on storage, handling and administration of the vaccine, recording and monitoring. This course is very necessary for frontline health workers who are vaccinators and priority recipients.

 “The health agency will set up from 100-110 vaccination sites across the city in addition to two others at the Da Nang General Hospital to inoculate about 20,000 people each day. All the venues will do temperature checks on people before entry allowing space for social distancing and a 30-minute recovery time, "said Doctor Yen.

Health care workers in Son Tra District get vaccinated for COVID-19. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Careful selection of eligible vaccine recipients needed

Doctor Ton That Thanh, the Director of the municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that Da Nang will receive three COVID-19 vaccines - from Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca with nearly 70,000 doses which will be distributed by the Ministry of Health.

Da Nang CDC is gearing up for the city’s mass vaccination campaign in line with the guidelines from the municipal. Till date, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been administered to more than 30,000 people across Da Nang.

 “Currently, about 8,000 people in Da Nang are eligible to receive their second doses. It is very important for the city to carefully choose eligible vaccine recipients to attend this campaign as there are not enough doses for everyone”, said Dr. Thanh.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by H.L