Speaking at an urgent meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control on August 2, Minister Long ordered localities nationwide to speed up the vaccination against COVID-19, especially in areas under lockdown, as the vaccines will be delivered to the country in a rushed manner in the fourth quarter.

Localities should not limit injection points and the number of injections in each day, he said, asking them to devise vaccination plans as quickly as possible while ensuring safety.

The minister stressed that localities also need to mobilise all forces to participate in vaccination campaigns.

He also asked localities to conduct early screening and pre-screening for those registered for vaccination in order to ensure safe injections for all of them.

Long said that people should not choose vaccine because all vaccines licensed by the Ministry of Health are approved by the World Health Organisation and used by countries worldwide.

So far, Vietnam has received more than 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik-V, and Sinopharm.

The ministry has allocated more than 16 million doses of vaccines in 16 batches to localities, ministries and agencies. On July 31, one million doses of Sinopharm vaccine imported by Sapharco Pharmaceutical Company under the authorisation of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee arrived in the city.

As of August 2, nearly 6.5 million doses of vaccines have been administered to people nationwide, with the highest rate being reported in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's current largest COVID-19 hotspot.