A DA NANG Newspaper reader recently posted a question: “ I has got the dose of Moderna vaccine against COVID-19 and was informed of the second shot of the same type in early September, but I could not go to the vaccination site on schedule because I still stayed in a medical blockaded area at that time. In the coming time, what if I get the second shot of other vaccines?”

According to the official website of the Vietnamese Health Ministry, its vaccine advisory body has just affirmed that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna can be used interchangeably as first and second doses, amid supply shortage. Using the same mRNA technology, these two vaccines show off a similarly high efficacy at preventing symptomatic disease.

Simply put, those who were given the Moderna vaccine as their first injection can be inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine as their second shot.

In similar vein, those who have received AstraZeneca as the first jab could get either Pfizer and Moderna shots as the second (previously it only allowed Pfizer).

Of special note, as per request by the national authorities, local health authorities and vaccination sites are recommended to treat people who receive two different types of COVID-19 vaccines as special cases and submit a separate report to the Ministry of Health for careful monitoring.

For the time being, the first and second doses for people in Viet Nam are the same vaccine, whereas the mixing and matching of vaccines has been implemented by many countries worldwide amid the general scarcity of vaccines and this move has showed positive results without any concerning complications documented.

Viet Nam has till date received various types of COVID-19 vaccines for use in its national inoculation drive, including viral vector vaccines (AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sputnik V), mRNA technology vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech), and inactivated vaccine (Sinopharm’s Vero Cell).

Reporting by T.V – Translated by A.T