HCM City to offer fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses next week
VOV.VN - Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start offering fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines to residents next week, according to Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy director of the Municipal Department of Health.
Priority will be given to more than 1.8 million people aged 50 years or older, Nam said on May 13 while meeting with voters in Districts No7 and Nha Be.
These booster shots will also be given to people aged 18 years or older with moderate to severe immunodeficiency or belonging to a group at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 such as healthcare workers, frontline workers, and people working in industrial parks.
The city will arrange mobile vaccination venues besides hospitals and injection sites. Vaccines to be used will be the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
Several day ago the Ministry of Health requested localities to work out a vaccination plan for the fourth doses to be submitted to the ministry on May 25 at the latest. Ho Chi Minh City is the first to announce this plan.
Scientists said the fourth dose expected to boost immune responses is not necessarily needed for everyone. Countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have recommended fourth doses for people who are immunocompromised.
Israel became the first country to administer a fourth dose more widely in January, mostly to people aged 60 years or older as well as to high-risk populations and healthcare workers.