Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam on March 13 crossed the mark of 200 millionCOVID-19 vaccines administered, just over a year since the ‘historicinoculation campaign’ was launched on March 8 last year.

Ofthe 200,179,247 million doses given to date, 183,133,205 were administered tothe adult population (aged 18 and above). They can be broken down further to70,911,338 first doses, 67,810,841 second doses, 14,459,451 additional dosesand 28,458,438 booster doses.

Sofar, 47 of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities have achieved a vaccinationrate in this age group of higher than 95 percent. The rate is between 90-95 percentin the remaining 17 localities, according to the health ministry.

Thenumber of vaccine doses for children aged between 12 and 17 years of age is17,046,042, including 8,748,687 first doses and 8,297,355 second doses. About94 percent of this age group have been fully vaccinated.

Furthermore,57 out of the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities report that the vaccinationrate in this age group is over 90 percent.

Vietnam,with a population of nearly 100 million people, reached the 10 millionmark in early August 2021, quite late compared to other countries amid a globalvaccine shortage, but thanks to concentrated efforts to access vaccines frommanufacturers, along with donations during the intense fourth wave ofinfections in the south of the country, the vaccination campaign has sincepicked-up pace.

The50 million dose mark was reached just two months later on October 7, and themilestone of 100 million was achieved over a month later on November 16,with an average of over a million doses a day administered.

Therollout hit 150 million another month later at theend of 2021.

Vietnamranks ninth in the world for total administered doses as of March 13. TheUnited States are in third place with 556 million doses, India is second with1.8 billion doses, and China is first with 3.17 billion doses.

Thehealth ministry over the weekend has again called for localities to continueexpanding vaccination efforts, especially with door-to-door mobilisation, so asnot to miss out on any eligible people (currently 12 years old and above) andto make sure the administration of booster shots is completed within the firstquarter of this year.

Medicalfacilities are asked to thoroughly review their list of patients over 50 yearsold and people with underlying health issues – who are either under their careor have been to the facilities for medical examination and treatment – to offerthem vaccinations and boosters, if necessary.

Ministerof Health Nguyen Thanh Long has stressed that COVID-19 vaccines are stilleffective in bringing down the risks of disease severity in the infected cases,hospitalisations and deaths, even with Omicron becoming dominant. 

Thanksto the high vaccination rate in Vietnam, the case fatality rate in the countryhas taken a deep dip – down from 0.9 percent on February 1, 2022, to 0.1 percenton March 3, 2022./.