PM tells authorities to consider penalizing Covid vaccination refusal

At a meeting with the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, he said authorities should convince people to get immunized, and consider banning people from leaving their home or making them pay the treatment fees if they contract Covid if they refuse the shots.

The goal is safe adaptation to the pandemic with a focus on reducing community transmission and severe cases and death, he said.

Localities that fail to reach vaccination targets would also be held accountable, he warned.

All adults must get their second vaccine shot this month, and children aged 12-17 must get theirs in January, he said.

All adults should also be administered booster shots in January, he said, adding vaccination for children aged five and above would be done in due course.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said many Covid patients had died not because of the disease itself but because of underlying conditions.

Vietnam has so far received around 169 million vaccine doses from various sources, and administered around 135 million of them.

Around 97 percent of the adult population has received at least one shot and 80 percent has received two.