Hanoi is ready for a large-scale vaccination campaign throughout the city with a capacity of 200,000 injections per day, said municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh on July 21.

Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh on an inspection work at Duc Giang Hospital. Photo: kinhtedothi

Anh told local media that the capital city has pushed up preparations for this campaign with various scenarios and methods, ensuring the earliest, fastest and safest deployment as soon as receiving vaccines from the Government.

“The city will need at least 1,200 vaccination facilities to realize the campaign. There are 700 facilities available, so the city will have to supplement additional 500 ones as soon as possible,” Anh said.

The Hanoi Department of Health is in charge of examining conditions for receiving and storing Covid-19 vaccines in large quantities, ranging from one million doses and more. The city is currently capable of receiving a maximum of about 1.3 million doses of vaccines under the packaging model of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Anh requested the health department to work out its receiving capacity corresponding to various types of vaccines, including vaccines that require complicated storage conditions such as Pfizer (stored at -74 degrees Celsius) and set up a plan for the transportation and distribution of vaccines to vaccination facilities to ensure safety, quality and timeliness.

“The city will also set up 100 emergency aid teams to stand ready for the campaign,” Anh said.

To successfully implement the vaccination campaign, Anh required relevant agencies to promote publicity and transparency of all information about the vaccination campaign, stating the view that all people are equal in the right to vaccination. “In case of limited vaccine distribution, the city will provide vaccines for people in the 11 priority groups listed by the Government.”

According to Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha, Hanoi has a population of 8.3 million, about 2% of them have been vaccinated.

“About 600,000 people from other provinces and cities, who are studying and living in the city, will also be injected. They include taxi drivers, street vendors, and porters who are at high risk for a serious infection if they catch Covid-19,” Ha said.