Hanoi, HCMC to begin Covid vaccination for children aged 5-11 this weekend

A representative of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday said it had received around 73,000 Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses from the Ministry of Health. Vaccination will be prioritized from the eldest in the age group to the lowest, it added.

Hanoi aims to administer Covid-19 vaccines among over 95 percent of children aged 5-11 in the city. There are currently around a million children in the age range in Hanoi.

In HCMC, vaccination for all sixth graders and fifth graders in certain schools will also begin Saturday, said Nguyen Hong Tam, deputy director of the municipal CDC. There are around 900,000 children aged 5-11 in the southern city.

Fifth graders in several schools in Districts 1, 5, 10, Phu Nhuan and Tan Phu will be vaccinated first, said Ho Tuan Minh, office head of the HCMC Department of Education and Training.

The vaccination campaign for children aged 5-11 will begin citywide next Monday, Minh added.

The health ministry currently aims to vaccinate 8.2 million young children nationwide by the second quarter. However, around 30 percent of parents are still hesitant, a ministry’s survey found.

Vietnam began Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 5-11 on Thursday, with 160 sixth graders in the northern Quang Ninh Province. Other localities are expected to begin vaccination next week.

The country has fully vaccinated 80.1 percent of its population, with 53.3 percent having received their third Covid-19 vaccine shots.