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Viet Nam upholds consistent policy of free COVID-19 vaccination for all

VGP - Amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Viet Nam considers the vaccination of foreigners in Viet Nam as a necessary component in the path towards achieving herd immunity.

September 14, 2021 9:36 PM GMT+7

Deputy Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang made the above statement at a press conference on August 19, 2021.

The Vietnamese Government always pays due attention to foreigners residing, studying and working in Viet Nam, and offers them necessary assistance to go on with their daily lives as usual and receive sufficient medical services and treatment should they become infected” she reaffirmed.

That commitment is in practice as authorities are conducting mass vaccination for expat community in Viet Nam given its limited resources due to global shortage of vaccines.

In Ha Noi, the Central Lung Hospital is assigned by the Ministry of Health to deploy vaccination for members, employees of diplomatic missions and international organizations, NGOs as well as other expats living in the city.

Up to now, the Hospital has administrated more than 4,000 officials and employees of diplomatic missions, nearly 2,000 international organizations and nearly 340 staff of NGOs in the capital city 4,251 foreigners, nearly 2,000 international organizations and nearly 340 staff of NGOs in the capital city.

In Ho Chi Minh city, on September 10th, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Vaccination Foreigner Registered Application in HCMC (link here: https://bit.ly/2VDIs3A), including for the first or second dose. All registration must be completed before September 15. The vaccination will be carried out base on residential area of foreign citizens.

District 7, where the biggest expats community resides, has already inoculated 18,000 foreigners of 106 nationalities, which is more than half of the foreigners living in the city.

Foreigners, or Vietnamese nationals with a permanent residency abroad who are living in Viet Nam, are eligible to be vaccinated equally to Vietnamese citizens if they are among the prioritized groups or living in prioritized areas. Expats are eligible to register for vaccination at their workplaces, agencies or localities similar to Vietnamese citizens in case of belonging to neither of the aforementioned categories.

By the moment this article was published, there are 30.442.671 doses of vaccine has been administrated in which 5.326.059 are fully vaccinated./.

By Nguyen Minh