COVID-19 vaccination remains important

Vaccination is still important for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, even though most communes and wards are now low-risk. Over 1.12 million COVID-19 patients are still being monitored, including 53 severe cases.

When summer diseases like dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth disease, acute hepatitis of unknown origin and monkeypox appear, the health system faces a "double burden." According to the ministry, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is constantly evolving, making it difficult to determine the danger of variants and the degree of aggravation and death.

Omicron is a common but not final variant. Potentially future SARS-CoV-2 variants will arise. The new variant may reduce vaccine effectiveness or immunity, causing severe infections or deaths in vulnerable populations.

The ministry said the pandemic would continue to develop unpredictably because sub-variants were appearing quickly. Some countries' pandemic situations are still complex, and post-COVID-19 impacts have still not been studied. The ministry says vaccination-based immunity isn't sustainable.

Vaccination remains a key tool in pandemic prevention and control. Relevant agencies are told to be proactive and prepare for every situation. They must help people improve their health, warn of new strains, and guide those infected with COVID-19.

Vaccination speedup

Late in May, the ministry asked provincial and city leaders to boost COVID-19 vaccinations. Some localities proposed not receiving vaccines or transferring their doses, so the COVID-19 vaccination target may be missed.

The ministry told provincial and city leaders to direct the Departments of Health and related agencies to review the number of people eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, focusing on completing third shots for people 18 years old or older in the second quarter of this year and inoculating children ages 5 to 12.

Localities that don't receive enough vaccines for the third and fourth shots for 18-year-olds or 5-12-year-olds or allow COVID outbreaks will be held accountable by the government and the prime minister.

On June 13, Vietnam reported 617 new COVID-19 infections in 37 provinces and cities, including one imported case. Hà Ni has 157 cases, 36 provinces and cities have between one and 87, and 24 have less than 10.

In the past week, 790 new COVID-19 cases were reported per day. Since the pandemic began, 10,732,429 cases have been reported. COVID-19 survivors number 9,562,523.