Covid-19 Prevention and Control: Nghe An is ready for a large vaccination campaign

Thanh Chung• March 10, 2021 14:55

(Baonghean.vn) - After more than a year of shaking the global health system and economy, the Covid-19 pandemic is still spreading. Vaccination is the most effective and economical measure to control the pandemic...

Ngày 8/3, Việt Nam chính thức tiêm vắc xin phòng COVID-19 cho người dân. Ảnh: Suckhoedoisong

On March 8, Vietnam officially started vaccinating people against Covid-19. Photo: Suckhoedoisong

Nghe An is ready for a large vaccination campaign

At this time, Nghe An as well as many other provinces have not been allocated vaccines.Ministry of HealthThe province is required to proactively prepare plans, develop training programs, promote the "4 on-site" motto, and coordinate closely with the ministry to ensure supply.

“Nghe An Health Sector is actively developing a plan to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. According to the Covid-19 vaccination plan (2021-2022 period), Nghe An is developing a plan that includes many activities, implemented based on the principle of mobilizing maximum participating forces; implementing vaccination immediately after receiving the vaccine; ensuring high coverage rate, vaccination safety and equitable access for people", Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - DirectorNghe An Provincial Center for Disease Controlsaid.

Before the vaccination time, the province will conduct statistics on priority vaccination subjects according to Decree 21, not allowing "acquaintances and relatives" to be mixed into the vaccination list; organize information and communication for people and the community about Resolution 21; the research, development and use of vaccines in the world and in Vietnam, the effectiveness of each type of vaccine that Vietnam has access to; disease prevention effectiveness, safety, vaccination schedule, post-vaccination reactions; vaccination implementation plan according to the level of vaccines provided; the role and responsibility of the health sector and medical staff in vaccination implementation; support, participation and resource support from people and the community.

Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh: The vaccination plan ensures high coverage, safe vaccination and equitable access for people. Photo: Tien Hung

The health sector will organize training courses on knowledge and practice of vaccination safety; vaccination procedures and safety, ensuring safety of epidemic prevention and control rules; shock prevention and control, and shock prevention and control protocols. The sector will also have to arrange vaccination points with adequate facilities and cold chains to preserve vaccines to ensure vaccine safety and quality; carry out vaccination according to one-way rules, apply screening and triage procedures right from the reception stage. All people coming for vaccination will have their temperature measured, the waiting area for vaccination will be arranged to ensure social distancing, conduct screening and collect epidemiological information before vaccination. In addition, there will be an area to monitor and handle post-vaccination reactions with full equipment according to the standards of the health agency.

Vietnam officially vaccinates against Covid-19

Vaccine developmentCovid-19, there are approximately 200 research manufacturers worldwide. Of which, Vietnam has 4 manufacturers. One year after the pandemic broke out, in December 2020, the Covid-19 vaccine began to be distributed and used in many countries around the world. In history, this is the fastest vaccine to be developed, produced and put into use. However, because the time is not long enough to monitor the entire clinical trial process and evaluate its effectiveness, the assertions about the protection period are different.

To effectively prevent and fight Covid-19, Vietnam has accelerated the import of vaccines, while promoting research and development of domestic Covid-19 vaccines. This is a huge investment by the Government to contribute to protecting, caring for and improving people's health. Implementing the Government's direction, in early 2021, the Ministry of Health negotiated and was agreed by the COVAC facility Program to supply 30 million doses; AstraZeneca Company agreed to supply 30 million doses. Currently, the Ministry of Health is also negotiating with Pfizer and many other companies to get an additional 30 million doses of vaccine... On February 24, 117,600 dosesVaccineThe first AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Vietnam.

Information about the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Suckhoedoisong

According to the Ministry of Health, the vaccine is produced by the CompanyAstraZenecaResearched and developed in collaboration with Oxford University (UK), called AstraZeneca, has been proven to be well tolerated and effective in preventing Covid-19. Results from clinical trials show that this vaccine protects 100% of vaccinated people from severe illness, hospitalization and death due to Covid-19 from 22 days after the first dose; has the potential to reduce the risk of asymptomatic virus transmission by 2/3. The vaccine was approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization on February 15, 2021; by February 25, 2021, it had been approved for circulation and use by 25 countries, including Vietnam.

According to the principle of ensuring maximum safety for the people, although the vaccine has arrived in Vietnam since February 24, the Ministry of Health is waiting for the batch certificate from the manufacturer; at the same time, the Ministry of Health also comprehensively re-evaluates all safety numbers of this batch of vaccine. On March 6, the Ministry of Health officially implemented the Covid-19 vaccination plan. Due to the small amount of vaccine, the Ministry of Health could not allocate the vaccine to 63 localities but reserved it for 13 provinces and cities, 2 Ministries (Public Security, National Defense) and 21 hospitals treating Covid-19 patients to receive the first batch of vaccines, in which priority was given to Hai Duong with 33,000 doses - a hot spot for epidemic prevention and control.

Số lượng người được tiêm trong ngày 8/3/2021. Ảnh: Suckhoedoisong

Number of people vaccinated on March 8, 2021. Photo: Suckhoedoisong

In this vaccination, the Ministry of Health focuses on prioritizing subjects in accordance with Resolution 21 of the Government and subjects directly participating in epidemic prevention and control work to minimize the risk of infection for these subjects... On March 8, the first Covid-19 vaccines were deployed in Hai Duong, the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to deploy Covid-19 vaccinations the earliest.

Effective "anti-epidemic armor"

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said: The view is to increase vaccination coverage as quickly as possible. Particularly with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Ministry of Health plans to inject the second dose 3 months after the first dose. This year, Vietnam will try to ensure enough vaccines for priority groups in accordance with Resolution 21/NQ-CP dated February 26, 2021. In March, the amount of vaccines is not much, people need to be very calm, when the next batches are available, the health sector will vaccinate immediately. Currently, the Ministry of Health is actively coordinating to transfer vaccines to Vietnam as soon as possible. By April-May 2021, when there is a more abundant source of vaccines, the Ministry of Health will immediately transfer them to localities.

Bộ trưởng Nguyễn Thanh Long Việt Nam phải đặt lên hàng đầu, coi an toàn tiêm chủng, đảm bảo an toàn tối đa cho người dân là ưu tiên cao nhất giai đoạn hiện nay. Ảnh Suckhoedoisong

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long: Vietnam must put vaccination safety first and ensure maximum safety for the people as the highest priority at the present stage. Photo: Suckhoedoisong

Because this is the first time an unprecedented large-scale vaccination campaign (over 100 million injections) with a new vaccine has been implemented, the Ministry of Health has mobilized the entire sector to participate in vaccination. The Ministry of Health has been, is and will be actively discussing and directing specialized agencies to organize vaccination points, vaccination sessions and vaccination campaigns in the safest way. To manage the campaign smoothly and synchronously, the Ministry of Health will manage data for each vaccinated person on the personal health record system. This will help the health sector increase proactive monitoring from medical facilities and quickly receive feedback from people about post-vaccination disadvantages. The Ministry of Health calls on people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 when it is their turn to protect themselves and their loved ones, for a healthy community.

Reactions after Covid-19 vaccination can occur because no vaccine is 100% safe. The most common common reactions are symptoms such as headache, nausea, muscle pain, joint pain, tenderness, hot pain at the injection site, fatigue, restlessness, mild fever, chills. Like other vaccines that have been used for many years, Covid-19 vaccine when introduced into the body can cause serious complications such as anaphylactic shock... There will certainly be unwanted incidents, but that should not be a reason to shake the vaccination campaign.

Phản ứng sau tiêm vắc xin phòng COVID-19. Ảnh: Suckhoedoisong

Reactions after COVID-19 vaccination. Photo: Suckhoedoisong

According to information from the Ministry of Health, regarding the protective efficacy of vaccines: Currently, the Pfizer vaccine has a protective efficacy of over 90%, Moderna has a protective efficacy of 94%, AstraZeneca has a protective efficacy of 76% after the first dose and 84% after the second dose. Because the protective efficacy is not 100%, the context of the Covid-19 epidemic is still ongoing, so even though vaccinated, people still need to take epidemic prevention measures, especially strictly following the "5K" message. Although not 100% effective, the vaccine is an "armor" that helps 100% of vaccinated people if infected with SARS-CoV-2 will have a mild illness, limiting the risk of progression to severe illness or death.