Staff of Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, take Covid-19 vaccine shots today [May 3], becoming the first airlines in the country receiving the inoculation that prioritizes frontline forces.

Vietnam Airlines staff gets Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

Around 1,500 staff of high risk groups like pilots, flight attendants, and ground crew will be vaccinated between May 13 and 20.

The air carrier said it is the first and only in Vietnam whose workers receive Covid-19 vaccine.

In total, Covid-19 vaccine [AstraZeneca] will be administered to nearly 2,300 Vietnam Airlines staff who work in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Vinh city in the central province of Nghe An.

Vietnam Airlines said it tries to have all staff vaccinated with the company’s funding.

According to Vietnam Airlines, it has more than 20,000 staff, including around 1,200 pilots and more than 3,000 flight attendants.

In the fight against Covid-19 in Vietnam, aviation workers are not subject to the inoculation.

Since February 2021 before Vietnam’s Covid-19 inoculation program, experts said that workers in the aviation sector should be considered for Covid-19 vaccination on a priority basis.

In the latest move, on May 7, Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Dinh Viet Thang asked the governments of localities housing airports to list aviation employees among prioritized groups.

"Aviation workers are at high risk of Covid-19 infection, mostly those working at international terminals," Thang said.

The aviation sector has been at the forefront to provide services to the movement of people, essential medical cargo, including vaccines, medicines, medical equipment, during the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.

The vaccination would keep aviation workers safe and unworried at work, Thang said, noting that vaccinated staff would make passengers comfortable.

Covid-19 vaccine has been so far administered to more than 971,000 people in Vietnam, accounting for 1 shot per 100 people, the lowest rate in the Southeast Asia.

Vietnam has been working with different partners for vaccine purchase amid thing global supply.