How will I receive my second COVID-19 vaccine shot in Ho Chi Minh City?

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications manages the list of people who have received their first COVID-19 vaccine shots, but the exact time of their second doses will depend on the number of vaccines allocated to the city by the health ministry.

The list of individuals eligible for the second COVID-19 vaccine shots has been updated in the database run by the municipal Department of Information and Communications, said Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the Department of Health.

The information department will then send this list to relevant units and local authorities to organize the inoculation.

Ho Chi Minh City has a target to fully vaccinate 15 percent of its adult population against the novel coronavirus by September 15.

However, the inoculation progress of such vaccines as AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer will rely on the Ministry of Health’s allocation, according to Nam.

The southern city is only proactive when it comes to the inoculation of Sinopharm vaccine shots, as they were purchased by the Saigon Pharmaceutical Company (Sapharco).

About 500,000 Sinopharm doses are currently available in the city, the health official said, adding that another one million shots will also be ready for use after being evaluated by the health ministry.

According to a guiding document from the Ministry of Health, most of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines require two shots, the gap between which has been prescribed by respective manufacturers. 

Nevertheless, people who have missed their second session can still take the jab and complete their vaccination schedule without having to retake the first dose.

Vietnam has administered about 16 million vaccine shots since inoculations rolled out on March 8, with more than 1.56 million people fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, over five million out of 6.9 million people aged 18 and older in Ho Chi Minh City had received their first COVID-19 vaccine doses.