Consequently, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will continue to distribute some 833,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to authorities in 63 provinces and cities across the country to implement booster vaccination for people 18 years of age and older.
According to updated data, to date, the health sector has implemented 266 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 for the population and the percentage of people over 18 years of age who received the second booster dose reached 81 percent, equivalent to 51.6 million people.
According to official statistics, in the last seven days, the country registered 2,653 new cases of COVID-19 for an average of 379 new cases per day, marking a week with the highest number of new infections since the beginning of this year.
Given the situation, the director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Phan Trong Lan, warned of the possibility of an increase in COVID-19 cases in the near future, but everything will be under control, thanks to greater vaccine coverage and the response active in the health sector.
Scientists and the World Health Organization have predicted the persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the goals of the next phase will be to reduce the rate of hospitalizations, severe and fatal cases, avoid overloading the health system and maintain the gains of epidemic prevention and control, he said.
Protecting high-risk subjects, including the elderly, people with chronic diseases and pregnant women, as well as reinforcing preventive measures, are listed as current priority tasks, he recommended.
Vietnam has not registered any fatal cases in more than three months./.
