Joy for population as vaccine scheme begins

The first batch of vaccinations began for critical health workers last week

Quyen Pham, a staff member at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, felt perfectly normal half an hour after taking her first vaccination shot on March 8.

“I am proud to be among the first and I feel more secure now I have been vaccinated,” she told VIR. “I believe in this AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been studied and tested by experts around the world.” Pham will take the second shot in the next 12 weeks.

“I believe that the COVID-19 vaccine will help health workers like me take care of patients better while being protected ourselves against the virus,” she stressed.

Pham was one of the first 377 health staff members in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hai Duong province to receive a first shot. Her colleagues in Hai Duong and Ho Chi Minh City also felt no different from usual, and simply felt more secure.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City said, “Over the past year, health professionals faced great pressure over infections and deaths and complicated development of the pandemic. While Vietnam succeeded in controlling the outbreak, the global health crisis is still developing unpredictably globally. Therefore, the vaccination helps us ease our worries.”

According to Prof. Dr. Duong Thi Hong, deputy director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, while the AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved and used in 25 countries, some side effects can occur after vaccination such as headache, nauseating, tiredness, and fever. There are possibly some rare reactions such as anaphylactic reaction or allergy.

Vaccines are being carefully stored for optimal use

After two days of vaccinations, no serious side effects were reported and the country continues to conduct the programme on a wide scale as planned. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health, said that in the first stage, the country plans to conduct the vaccination of 117,000 doses for frontline health staff in the 13 cities and provinces recently hit by the pandemic, and the 21 hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

“To quicken the process, the healthcare sector is negotiating to buy more doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while accelerating clinical trials and production of locally-made vaccines to ensure supply,” he noted.

Vietnam is scheduled to have over 5.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March and April, including over 4.1 million doses from the COVAX Facility.

At present, the pandemic continues to be controlled in the country after the recent latest wave affecting several localities, enabling the majority of people and businesses to continue their plans.

Globally, while there remain some minor concerns globally over safety of vaccines after deaths were reported after taking a shot in Norway, Austria, South Korea, and others; more countries have begun vaccination programmes while the number of infections has tended to fall. Thus far, no links have been found between the reported deaths and a vaccine in South Korea and Norway, while Austria’s government last week took precautions by suspending a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines while further investigation is carried out.

Nevertheless, in general signs are looking positive for economic recovery around the world. Here, the Vietnamese government plans eventual resumption of international flights to facilitate travelling of Vietnamese overseas, international experts, and those for other purposes, thus expecting to boost trade and economic activities between the country and others as soon as possible.

Tran Van Thuan - Deputy Minister of Health The March 8 vaccinations for COVID-19 were the kick-off of the country’s largest-ever vaccination campaign with over 100 million injections nationwide. This is a huge investment by the government to better prevent and fight against the global health crisis, thus better protecting people’s health and enabling the country to soon come back to normal life. In this first stage, Vietnam has 117,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for prioritised groups. The country’s vaccination scheme is receiving support from international groups like the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and others. No vaccine is 100 per cent safe and no vaccine can 100 per cent prevent people from diseases. Therefore, to protect society from the high risks of COVID-19, besides vaccination, we should follow the recommendations of the Ministry of Health in terms of masks, disinfection, distancing, no gathering, and health declarations. I believe that with these, we will successfully stop COVID-19. Nguyen Van Kinh - Chairman, Vietnamese Society of Infectious Diseases Vietnam experienced three waves of COVID-19 outbreaks. Fortunately, no Vietnamese health professionals were lost due to the pandemic. Lessons were learned from the country’s previous fight against SARS. Any medicine or chemical can have certain drug effects and vaccines are no different. For example, the first effect is pain at the injection site, while potentially more severe is abscesses, fever, or even anaphylactic shock. All these effects can occur but we are ready to fully prepare for them. Phan Khac Long - Chairman, Phan Vu Group Manufacturing and construction are specific sectors, using a large number of low-income employees, so it causes great challenges for both entrepreneurs and their workers to access vaccine injections. Vaccines are essential to pushing on with the socioeconomic growth, so it is necessary to have a clear plan so that businesses like Phan Vu can know how and when to access the vaccine, as well as to detail our budget plan. We have prepared many plans for bad, expected, and good situations to adapt flexibly to the pandemic. If we have a clear schedule for vaccines, we can control our manufacturing process and invest further. In addition, if businesses are allowed to pay for vaccines, Phan Vu is ready to pay to inject for all 2,000 employees. Pham Hong Ha - Director, Hong Ha Logistics Co., Ltd. The government should consider the price of vaccines. I saw that perhaps some vaccines in Vietnam may have different prices although they are exactly the same type. With that in mind, the government should set a public regulation price for each vaccine for everyone to enjoy equal benefits in both urban and rural areas. Of course, there could be free vaccines for remote areas, for instance. Moreover, the government can give local authorities or even businesses the responsibility of vaccine management to protect the vaccine from the black market.