According to Associate Prof. Dr. Duong Thi Hong, deputy head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pfizer and Modern account for the majority of this. The Vero Cell vaccine holds 2.35 million doses and will expire in October 2023.
Up to 21.5 million doses of Covid-19 in Vietnam have not yet been used
To date, 16 cities and provinces have not yet registered their vaccine demand for the second half of the year despite being asked by the Ministry of Health. The third and fourth jab coverage for people aged from 12 in many localities still remains behind schedule. The rate of the first and second shot for children aged between 5-12 in lots of localities has remained low.
Amid the sharp drop in Covid-19 deaths and infections, more people have ignored booster jabs. Meanwhile, many people who have contracted Covid-19 think that they do not need to get the booster shots as they have antibodies against the virus.
Lots of people worry about the complications of Covid-19 vaccine, which has discouraged them from receiving the vaccination.
Meanwhile, the expiry date of Covid-19 vaccine is just 6-9 months, shorter than many other kinds of vaccines.
At present, co-operation between many localities and the health sector in the Covid-19 vaccination is not strong enough, which is among the causes of the sluggish vaccination.
Hong urged cities and provinces to quickly send their Covid-19 vaccine demand in the second half of this year. Localities also need to speed up the vaccination for children aged 5-12.