Hanoi has asked its agencies to reinforce Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 years.

The request was made in the context that around 60% of children from 5 to under 12 years old are vaccinated with the basic course of two doses.

Therefore, the Department of Health has asked the local authorities to encourage parents to respond to the vaccination campaign for their children.

Hanoi started the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for children of this group on April 18.

Vaccination against Covid-19 for 6th-grade students at Hong Minh Secondary School in Hanoi's suburban district of Phu Xuyen on April 18, 2022. Photo: Huu Hai/The Hanoi Times

 The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that the currently-licensed vaccines still have a high protective value and could reduce the risk of severe transmission for all SARS-CoV-2 virus variants.

Therefore, to better cope with the pandemic, the city's health sector still prioritizes further speeding up the progress of vaccination to ensure people’s safety in the future.

As of mid-December, more than 22 million third doses have been injected into adults in the city, reaching almost 99%. More than 55% of children aged 12 to 17 were administered the third dose.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest coverage of the Covid-19 vaccine, with more than 265 million doses safely administered as of mid-December.

In particular, nearly 90% of the population aged 18 and above have received the fourth dose while more than 90% of children aged from five to under 12 were injected with the first and nearly 70% of the children the second dose.

Communication efforts have been critical to the positive results of the Covid-19 vaccination campaigns. This success is due to the efforts of the Vietnamese government, which has mobilized resources to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination throughout the country, the Ministry stated.

Vietnam began Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 5-11 on April 14.

The health ministry will keep coordinating with the Ministry of Education and Training to carry out the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 for children and students.