Hanoi will inject the fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines to vulnerable adults or those whose jobs put them at high risk for exposure to the novel coronavirus, starting this week, according to the municipal Department of Health.

The department announced on June 7 that more than 230,000 doses of the fourth injection would be ready to administer to eligible residents aged 50 and above, those aged over 18 who are diagnosed to be moderately or severely immunocompromised, or those with high-risk jobs such as healthcare personnel and factory workers.

A health worker prepares a Covid-19 vaccine shot in Hanoi. Photo: Thanh Binh

The capital city aims to vaccinate 95% of the people in the aforementioned groups this time, the department said, adding that the vaccines to be used will be Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.

Hanoi is among 11 localities with over 80% of its population having received the third Covid-19 vaccine shots, though the local vaccination rate among children aged 5-11 is low.

The Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha told The Hanoi Times that vaccination was slowing down citywide as many people don’t want to get vaccinated for the third or fourth time.

“The people have dropped their guard and not fully understood the importance of vaccination, making it much harder to persuade people to get vaccinated with booster shots,” Ha added.

Many people in the capital city say they don't want to get a booster shot because they'd had already contracted Covid-19.

Nguyen Thi Hoa Thuy, a 48-year-old resident in Hanoi’s Nam Tu Liem District, said she had already been vaccinated with two Pfizer shots before contracting Covid-19 in February. She believes the infection has given her enough antibodies and there is no need for a third vaccine shot this year.

A woman is vaccinated against Covid-19 in Hanoi. Photo: Thanh Binh

Nguyen Phu Minh, 36, who lives in Cau Giay District, said he acquired the coronavirus in March after getting two AstraZeneca shots. “The majority of the population has already been infected so there’s already a decent level of immunity,” Minh told The Hanoi Times.

“Vaccine demand has been falling lately, with certain localities only signing up to receive a few hundreds of thousands of doses, which is much lower than the number of shots needed to meet vaccination goals,” Director Nhi Ha said.

She added that many parents haven't agreed to get their children aged 5-11 vaccinated, with the vaccination rate in this age group standing at just around 50%.

“The Covid-19 situation in the world is still complex. There's no telling when a new variant would show up and trigger new outbreaks. Without the protection of vaccines, that would be dangerous,” Ha said, requesting authorities to continue persuading people to get vaccinated.

Nationally, Vietnam is seeing a large amount of Covid-19 vaccines left unused as residents don't want to be injected further.

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology last week reported that there is still a considerable amount of vaccine doses for both adults and children that have not yet been used.

As of June 8, over 222 million Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered nationwide, including nearly 430,000 fourth shots, Vietnam’s health ministry said, adding that some 60% of the population have received their third Covid-19 vaccine injection, while only 18% of children aged 5 to 11 have received vaccines.