Over one million people get Covid-19 e-passport

More than one million Vietnamese people have been issued Covid-19 vaccine e-passports as of April 22, according to Nguyen Ba Hung, deputy director of the Medical Data Centre under the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Hung said that a week after the MoH started to issue the certification through “So suc khoe dien tu” and “PC-COVID” apps, the number of people getting vaccine e-passports has increased five times compared to five days ago.

He noted the electronic vaccine passports are valid within 12 months from the issuance date, adding that when it expires, a new QR code will be automatically generated.

Vietnam’s vaccine passport follows standards issued by the World Health Organization and the European Union, which are being applied by 62 nations and more in the time to come.

As vaccination information of inoculated people has been updated into the national vaccination system, they are not required to take any further procedures to receive the e-passport, Hung stressed.

Information on some 41 million Vietnamese people's Covid-19 vaccine injections is missed or wrong. Photo: Nhat Bac

The deputy director said his ministry has tasked relevant departments with reviewing, verifying, and correcting inaccurate information on vaccination and updating them in the management system for certification by April 30, ensuring the accuracy of Covid-19 vaccination data.

Leaders of vaccination units will bear the responsibility for any wrong Covid-19 vaccination information of the people, affecting the issuance of vaccine passports and subsequently their international traveling and trading activities, Hung noted.

People, including foreigners in Vietnam, who want to get a vaccine passport are advised to contact immunization agencies to update information or file complaints on the Covid-19 vaccination portal website https://tiemchungcovid19.gov.vn.

The passport will be available on PC Covid-19 or Digital Health (So suc khoe dien tu) apps. If people don’t have the apps, they can get their passports by going to the health ministry's portal and filling in the necessary information. They will then receive the passport by email.

Earlier, on April 8, the ministry also tasked localities and immunization agencies with using digital signatures to verify vaccination information.

Vietnam has reached mutual recognition of vaccine passports with 19 countries, namely Japan, the US, the UK, Australia, India, Belarus, Cambodia, the Philippines, Palestine, Maldives, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Turkey, Singapore, Saint Lucia, the Republic of Korea, Iran and Malaysia.

As of April 22, over 210 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in Vietnam, including nearly 193 million for adults, more than 17 million for those aged 12-17, and 88.820 for children aged 5 to 11.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 21 said that it has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Health to work with vaccine sharing mechanism COVAX, partner countries and vaccine producers in order to speed up the supply of Covid-19 vaccines for children.

The foreign ministry has maintained close coordination with the health ministry in negotiations with international organizations and partners to ensure vaccine supply for children.