Over 800 foreigners in HCMC get vaccinated against Covid-19

Anh Kiet

Aug 06, 2021 / 03:10 PM

The move is part of the vaccination plan in HCMC, which consists of inoculating all people over 18 years old living in the city.

Thao Dien Ward, where numerous foreigners have been living in Ho Chi Minh City, will administer the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for more than 800 foreign citizens between the ages of 50 and 65 on August 6-9, according to the People's Committee of Thao Dien Ward.

The move is part of the vaccination plan in HCMC, which consists of inoculating all people over 18 years old living in the city, including foreign citizens, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Duong Anh Duc said on August 5.

To ensure social distancing and avoid crowds, foreigners will have their own vaccination schedules in different time frames.

Vaccination days are divided into shifts: mornings from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and afternoons from 12:30 pm until the registration list is exhausted.

A French citizen receiving the vaccination against Covid-19 in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Manh Hao

When going to the vaccination center, foreigners need to bring a medical examination book, passport, health insurance card and must strictly abide by Covid-19 prevention protocols.

After the injection, the recipients must wait for about 30 minutes for post-injection monitoring and can go home afterward if nothing comes up. Before leaving, each will be informed of the date for their second dose injection, which is four weeks after the first dose as recommended by the manufacturers.

After receiving their full two doses, the vaccinated person will receive a digital vaccination certificate via email with full information written in English and Vietnamese, making it easy for them to travel to other countries.

Earlier, addressing a regular press conference held online on June 24, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang affirmed that foreign citizens in Vietnam will be vaccinated like any other Vietnamese.

“Vietnamese authorities have confirmed that foreign residents will be administered vaccines as part of the Vietnamese vaccination program,” Hang stressed.

Speaking at a press conference on July 12, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam said foreigners will be among priority groups to be immunized against Covid-19 in the city’s second inoculation campaign, which has been taking place since July 22.

A batch of nearly 600,000 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in HCMC on August 6 morning, reported the Ministry of Health.

It was the seventh batch under a contract between AstraZeneca Vietnam and the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC) with the support of the health ministry. The contract has so far brought more than 4.4 million doses to Vietnam, or about 37% of AstraZeneca’s total at home.

Some 18.5 million, including 11.5 million doses of AstraZeneca doses have been sent to Vietnam, more than 5 million doses of Moderna, 1.5 million doses of Sinopharm, over 400,000 doses of Pfizer and 12,000 doses of Sputnik V.

As of August 6 morning, Vietnam had injected more than eight million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, of which more than 820,000 people received the second shot.