Vietnam’s Health Ministry is speeding up procedures aimed at completing its contract with Pfizer to purchase 21.9 million vaccine doses for children aged 5 to 11 in March.
As planned, a total of seven million vaccine doses for children aged five to 11 will arrive in the country during the first quarter of the year, with the remaining 14.9 million doses expected to be delivered ahead in the second quarter, Health Ministry reported.
The ministry has also updated its guidelines for using of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying children aged five to 11 would receive the 10 mcg (0.2 ml) dosage, whilst children aged 12 and above would receive a 30 mcg (0.3 ml) dosage.
Related: Here’s why the U.S CDC adds Vietnam to its highest-risk destination category for travel
The data showed, about 490,000 local children were confirmed to have contracted the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, accounting for 19.3% of total COVID-19 patients confirmed in the country so far.
The number of children contracting COVID-19 is expected to rise significantly moving forward, meaning that ensuring the safety of children is an important task, especially for the unvaccinated.
Last month, an online survey from Health ministry on whether or not parents would let children under 12 be vaccinated against COVID-19 showed that 81% agreed with the inoculation plan, according to a report by VOV.
By February 28, Vietnam had injected over 194.97 million doses of vaccines to date, with over 67.456 million people over 18 and 8.15 million children from 12-17 having received two shots, while more than 39.98 million booster shots and third shots had been administered.