Restarting the Spring Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign

Forecast of increased Covid-19 infections

From January 29, 2022 to February 4, 2022 (7 days of the Lunar New Year of the Tiger), the whole province recorded 2,100 infections.Covid-19New. Of which, there are 277 community cases in 19 districts, cities and towns (Vinh city: 104, Dien Chau: 30, Quynh Luu: 35, Yen Thanh: 18, Hung Nguyen: 13, Thanh Chuong: 14, Cua Lo: 10, Nghia Dan: 10, Quy Chau: 7, Que Phong: 6, Do Luong: 9, Nghi Loc: 8, Nam Dan: 9, Tan Ky: 4, Anh Son: 3, Thai Hoa: 2, Hoang Mai: 2, Con Cuong: 21, Tuong Duong: 1)... There are 2 localities that have not recorded new community infections, which are Quy Hop and Ky Son.

Taking Covid-19 test samples from people. Photo: Thanh Chung

Localities with a high number of Covid-19 infections are Vinh city with 397 cases scattered in 24 communes and wards; Yen Thanh district with 223 cases distributed in 31 communes... At the time of 7 days of Tet and the coming days, Nghe An has a number of clusters of cases that need special attention, namely: Cluster of cases at kindergartens and hamlets in Thinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district (Total 115 cases, first case detected on January 29, 2022); Community cases of unknown origin scattered in Vinh city, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Thanh Chuong and Anh Son; 2 small outbreaks at the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital and Bao Son 2 Apartment (Vinh city, recorded 10 cases)

During these 7 days, the total number of Covid-19 patients who were cured was 1,631. The number of patients who died was 5. The number of patients currently being treated was 2,251. Of these, the number of patients being treated at medical facilities was 1,370; the number of patients being treated at home and their caregivers was 1,328.

Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control assessed: The average number of cases in the past 7 days is 267 cases/day, with an average of 35 community cases/day. The number of cases in localities has decreased compared to before Tet; especially on February 1 (159 cases) and February 2 (158 cases). The number of cases tends to decrease on February 1 and 2, however, it tends to increase on February 3 and 4. The reason for the decrease in the number of cases may be because people do not go to the doctor during Tet but treat themselves at home. After Tet, when the number of people going for testing increases; people interact and travel more; cultural festivals and community activities take place... It is forecasted that the number of Covid-19 cases will increase significantly in the coming time.

People have not done a good job of getting vaccinated.

To prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic, since January 29, Nghe An province has implemented the Vaccination Campaign.VaccineCovid-19 prevention campaign in Spring 2022 across the province with the goal of ensuring that eligible people are vaccinated during the Lunar New Year 2022. Accordingly, the campaign is organized throughout the 9 days of Tet holiday. Medical staff are present 24/24 hours at vaccination sites to perform their duties.

Speeding up vaccination progress to prevent and fight Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: My Ha

To implement this campaign, the health sector and local steering committees have made great efforts in organizing vaccinations, promoting and mobilizing people to get vaccinated. However, the vaccination results in the past 7 days of Tet have not met the requirements. Many localities have very low results. Specifically: In the 47 Pfizer vaccine injections, the total number of doses given was 348,150 (required to be completed before January 31, 2022). However, after January 31, the number of doses injected only reached 198,193 doses (56.9%), the number of doses not yet injected was 149,957 doses.

Information from Nghe An Department of Health: There are 3 localities with a rate of less than 10% (Cua Lo town, Vinh city, Que Phong district); there are 6 localities with a rate from 10.4% to less than 50% (Nghi Loc, Con Cuong, Hung Nguyen, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Quy Chau); there are 10 localities with a rate from 53.2% to less than 90.5% (Anh Son, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Thai Hoa town, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Do Luong, Nam Dan, Hoang Mai town, Quy Hop)... 2 localities have completed on time with 100% (Dien Chau, Thanh Chuong)

The reason for this is that people's awareness is not high, they do not come to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on time. The effectiveness and efficiency of community COVID teams during this period are not good. The update of vaccination doses is not timely. Therefore, the Steering Committees of localities do not have a close grasp of specific vaccination subjects to have a form of propaganda, mobilization, and appeal to each person (only propaganda on the radio system).

Synchronously and resolutely join forces to fight the epidemic

Up to this point, the number of people aged 18 and over who have received the full basic vaccination is 1,997,734 (accounting for 101.9% of people aged 18 and over and 60.0% of the population of Nghe An province). The number of people who have received at least 1 vaccination: 2,004,796 people (accounting for 102.2% of people aged 18 and over and 60.2% of the population of Nghe An province). The number of people who have received the supplementary/booster vaccination: 906,771 people (accounting for 46.3% of people aged 18 and over who have received the full basic vaccination)... Accumulated vaccinations for children aged 12-17: The number of children who have received the full vaccination (2 Pfizer vaccinations) is 266,651 people (accounting for 97.2% of children in the age group). The number of children vaccinated with at least one dose is 276,529 people (accounting for 100.8% of children of the right age).

The Department of Health held an urgent meeting with three localities with low vaccination rates in the campaign. Photo: Thanh Chung

Reality shows: The epidemic has been and is at risk of spreading rapidly, the number of symptomatic cases is increasing. There are still people dying from Covid-19. The number of people who have not received enough additional doses and booster doses is still high. People are subjective and do not have a good awareness of complying with Covid-19 vaccination... The requirements of epidemic prevention and control require all levels, sectors, localities and all people to better implement the "5K" recommendations and vaccination.

Faced with the complicated developments of the epidemic, on the afternoon of February 4, the Nghe An Department of Health held an extraordinary meeting with Vinh city, Nghi Loc district and Cua Lo town on the work of epidemic prevention, control and Covid-19 vaccination. Concluding the meeting, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Deputy Commander of the Provincial Covid-19 Prevention and Control Command Center, Director of the Nghe An Department of Health stated: The epidemic situation is expected to have complicated developments in the coming days. To effectively prevent and control the epidemic, the entire political system and people must actively participate. In particular, the role and activities of wards, communes and towns are very important...

In the Covid-19 vaccination work, wards, communes and towns need to further promote the work of screening, statistics, propaganda, and mobilizing people to get vaccinated, not being subjective about the epidemic; must really "go to every alley, knock on every door, check every subject"; need to restart the Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign in Spring 2022; "warm up" and reactivate the activities of community COVID teams... Districts, cities and towns must assign specific responsibilities, linked to vaccination targets, to communes, wards and towns.

In the treatment of F0, localities need to continue to do a good job of treating patients at home and at district-level treatment facilities. Vinh City needs to immediately activate the city's treatment facilities to receive patients. Cua Lo Town needs to immediately operate mobile medical stations. Mobile medical stations need to pay attention to regularly contacting, exchanging, and grasping the health status of patients twice a day... Localities need to step up epidemic prevention and control work, limit large gatherings; pay attention to monitoring, closely controlling, and zoning to detect high-risk subjects related to newly declared F0 cases./.