Large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign: Striving for the highest vaccine coverage rate for the people

– Immediately after Ministry of Health allocated 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Lang Son province, Department of Health submitted a statement to the Provincial People’s Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee issued Plan No.190/KH-UBND dated September 20, 2021 on the implementation of a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Lang Son province in 2021 with the goal that by October 10, 2021, 100% of people aged 18 and over residing in the province will have been vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The implementation period of the plan starts from September 25, 2021 and will be completed before October 10, 2021.

Mr. Nguyen The Toan, Director of Department of Health, said that clearly defining vaccination as an important task assigned by the Party and the State, the health sector has developed a detailed plan and prepared the best plans for the vaccination campaign to go on as planned. With the application of information technology such as electronic medical declaration; electronic health book…in vaccination will shorten the time of procedures at vaccination points.

Accordingly, in order to ensure that vaccination takes place safely and in accordance with regulations, Department of Health requires medical units in each locality, depending on the actual situation, to administer vaccination in the successive method or by each commune cluster. The staff participating in vaccination have been trained at least three times through online training sessions at provincial and district levels on guidelines for safe vaccination; treatment of post-injection reactions so that vaccination will be done quickly and safely. For human resources involved in vaccination, the health sector has a plan to gather medical staff from private establishments in the area to participate in vaccination support when necessary.

The officials of Van Lang District Health Center injected COVID-19 vaccine to people in Tan Thanh commune, Van Lang district

At vaccination sites, medical units must arrange mobile first-aid and out-of-hospital emergency teams ready for emergency and treatment of post-injection reactions (if any). The vaccination points are provided with at least one anaphylaxis emergency kit and 50 adrenaline tubes to be ready to promptly handle cases of anaphylaxis that may occur after vaccination.

Immediately after the plan to deploy a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Lang Son province was approved by the Provincial People’s Committee on September 20, 2021, medical centers at district and city levels urgently built a campaign implementation plan with “dual goals” – the fastest and safest vaccination in accordance with the reality of each locality. Many units have developed plans to speed up the vaccination schedule to complete earlier than expected. For example, in Van Lang district, the district health center has made a detailed and specific plan for vaccination in the area to be completed before September 30, 2021.

Doctor Do An Hien, Director of Van Lang District Health Center said that according to statistics, the whole district has over 18,000 cases of 18 years old and older who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. In order to complete the campaign as soon as possible and with the safest vaccination, the center will carry out the vaccination campaign starting on September 24, 2021 and organize vaccination in the successive method in five commune clusters in the area, it is expected to complete the campaign before September 30, 2021.

In order for the large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Lang Son province to complete as planned, besides the efforts of the health sector, the condition for a successful campaign is the cooperation of the whole political system. Therefore, the districts and the city have had many solutions and specific work to make the vaccination campaign successful and safe.

Mr. Vi Quang Trung, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Chi Lang District, Head of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 vaccination in Chi Lang district said that the district has made a specific plan on mobilizing the police force, the militia and self-defense force to participate in ensuring security and order inside and outside the vaccination sites. The force of youth union members will be fully mobilized to participate in propaganda, channeling and supporting the people to get vaccinated.

In particular, on September 21, 2021, the District People’s Committee directed the District Culture, Sports and Communication Center to organize propaganda through websites, social networks and mobile propaganda vehicles to regularly and continuously propagate about the benefits and significance of participating in vaccination against COVID-19. With the cooperation and participation of the whole political system, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the area will take place safely and as planned.

Currently, the epidemic situation is still complicated, along with the implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures according to the regulations of the authorities, the vaccination against COVID-19 is the most important measure at present to help protect people’s health during the pandemic. Therefore, each citizen should participate in getting vaccinated against COVID-19 to contribute to protecting the health of themselves, their families and the community amid the pandemic.

According to the report of Department of Health, as of September 19, 2021, Lang Son administered 196,624 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to ensure safety. The proportion of people who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine/total population aged 18 and over in the province reached 35.54%. To achieve the goal that 100% of the population aged 18 and over residing in the province (more than 558,000 people) will receive one dose of COVID-19 vaccine or more, a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign with more than 411,000 doses of vaccine will be injected in the locality.