Inoculation drive speeds up as virus claims hundreds

The government is speeding up its vaccination drive – the top priority to fight the increasingly complicated Covid-19 pandemic.

As more and more people succumb to the virus, with hundreds of deaths recorded in the past week alone, inoculating as many citizens as possible has become the key task.

The country has so far received almost 18.7 million doses of vaccines and over eight million had been administered as of Friday.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called for more drastic and effective measures to curb infections, minimise deaths and push up the rate of vaccinations.

The government leader stressed the need to speed up vaccinations by setting up more fixed and mobile vaccination stations and preparing vaccine storage areas.

He ordered authorities to ensure safety and effectiveness for vaccinated people, conduct immediate vaccinations for medical staff, frontline workers, the elderly, people with underlying conditions and those in the priority groups designated by the health ministry.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long earlier this week also urged localities nationwide to ramp up vaccination efforts and said Vietnam expects to receive many more doses later this year.

“Vaccination drives must be rolled out as soon as possible,” Long said.

Ho Chi Minh City has deployed 1,200 vaccination teams with each one capable of administering 200 Covid-19 shots each day. The city is still the Covid-19 epicentre with a caseload of more than 100,000 in the fourth wave.

Hanoi is actively carrying out its massive vaccination campaign which started on July 28. The inoculation drive, which lasts until April next year, targets 5.1 million residents between 18 and 65 years old.

Vietnam is also boosting vaccine studies and production as global vaccine supplies are still limited.

Vingroup’s affiliate VinBioCare has received approval for clinical trial from the Health Ministry to advance ARCT-154, a new generation Arcturus vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including the Delta variant.

Vingroup announced last Monday that it had signed an agreement with Arcturus Therapeutics medicines biotechnology company of the US to transfer vaccine production technology.

With a capacity to manufacture 200 million doses per year, Vingroup is projected to produce the first batches of vaccine by early 2022.

Under the agreement, the US firm will grant permission for Vingroup’s affiliate VinBioCare to produce a Covid-19 vaccine named VBC-COV19-154, which targets new variants of the coronavirus such as Delta and Alpha. — Vietnam News/ANN