Poor people are listed among priority groups in Vietnam’s vaccination against Covid-19, which is planned to take place in March.

People aged 65 and older are listed in priority groups for Covid vaccination in Vietnam. Photo: VGP

According to the United Nations, around 9% of Vietnam’s population or roughly nine million people living in poverty in 2019, a drastic reduction from 57% in 1990.

Factors that characterized the poor include large size of household, low education and skills, dependency on agriculture, remoteness in rural mountainous areas, lack of supporting infrastructure. The poor nowadays is also specifically associated with ethnic minorities in mountainous area rather than urban migrants.

Under the government’s resolution dated February 26, the poor and social beneficiaries belong to nine groups of people prioritized for the inoculation in the country of nearly 100 million population.

Groups in the priority list include:

- Health workers and frontline forces (members of the steering committee for Covid prevention at all levels, people working in quarantine centers, contact tracers, volunteers, reporters, among others); army officers; policemen.

- Vietnamese diplomats abroad; customs and state officials working in immigration service.

- Essential providers in aviation, transportation, tourism, clean water, electricity, among others.

- Teachers and employees in education sector; people working in administration agencies having frequent contact with others.

- People with underlying diseases and those above 65 years of age.

- People in the pandemic-hit areas.

- The poor and social beneficiaries.

- People in overseas mission.

- And other people decided by the Ministry of Health basing on the requirements of the pandemic control.

People, who are subject to the first shots (the first phase) of the 117,000 doses, are health workers and frontline forces.

The first batch of vaccine arrived in Vietnam on February 24 from British–Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Vietnam is under the fresh Covid-19 outbreak that resurged in late January, recording more than 800 locally-transmitted infections so far.