Millions of Covid vaccine shots lack, bear wrong database info: health ministry

Nguyen Ba Hung from the information technology department under the Ministry of Health on Tuesday said authorities have cross-checked around 201 million Covid-19 shots from the vaccination database against the personal identity database, verifying around 181 million Covid-19 vaccines, which correspond to 73.4 million people.

But 43.5 million vaccine shots among those verified still bear the wrong info, for example names or ID numbers. Twenty million vaccines lack ID numbers and 3.3 million cannot be verified. As many as 7.6 million shots lack all personal details, and so have not been included in the vaccination database, Hung said.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Covid-19 vaccine shots have missing profiles because of inaccurate input.

“It is a shortcoming that needs to be resolved in the coming time,” he said.

A representative of the Ministry of Public Security said challenges to verifying vaccination details include missing, inaccurate and unsynchronized data, “disproportionate” rate of people using online public services, and the burden of too many papers and documents requiring online public services.

The verification of vaccination details is vital for the issuance of vaccine passports and health management for the entire population, Long said. Vietnam aims to manage the health status of 95 percent of its population by 2025, but that goal can only be realized if the health management system is digitized, he added.

All vaccination info must be verified before June in order to be synchronized with the national population database. Health facilities would also gradually shift to using personal ID cards instead of health insurance cards.

Localities must also give citizens their third Covid-19 vaccine shots faster, and all children aged 5-12 should have received their first Covid-19 vaccine shots in the second quarter. The health ministry would also provide instruction to give adults their fourth Covid-19 vaccine shots and children aged 12-17 their third, Long said.

Vietnam has issued vaccine passports to around 500,000 people so far, according to the health ministry.