Vietnam aims to have 95 percent of children aged 12-17 vaccinated against COVID-19 this year

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Vietnam is striving to give two COVID-19 vaccine shots to 95 percent of 8.1 million children aging between 12 and 17 years old in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the Ministry of Health.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, the ministry is designing a roadmap implementing COVID-19 vaccination for children, initially for children from 12-17 years old.

The ministry is scheduled to issue a guideline on the implementation of the work on October 15.

Tuyen said that the ministry is also reviewing to make a list of children from 3-11 years old, while seeking vaccine sources. It is also gathering ideas from experts and scientists so as to be ready to make guidance on vaccinations on this group.

Together with the country's progress in vaccination, the education-training and health sector are working together to make plans of vaccination for particular groups of children, thus generally reopening schools.

Tuyen asked localities to direct their departments of Education and Training to review and assess the pandemic prevention and control work in order to allow students to return to school.

At a working session with representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training on October 12, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that the Government has issued a resolution that sets a target of basically controlling COVID-19 in the whole country by the end of this year, returning to the new normal situation. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training’s plans should match that goal, he asked.

The Ministry of Education and Training was requested to review regulations on pandemic safety at school in the current circumstance when teachers and parents are fully vaccinated and students aging from 12-17 are to receive vaccine shots soon.

So far, over 57 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been injected to people aged 18 years old and above across the country, including over 39 million people, or 54 percent of the total adults, receiving the first shots, and 16 others, or over 22 percent, have got full two shots./.