HCMC – The prime minister has ordered the Ministry of Health to complete the inoculation of children 5 to 11 against Covid-19 in the second quarter of 2022.

After getting vaccinated, those children can return to school at the start of the third quarter of the year, according to a dispatch released by the Government Office today, April 5. In February, the Government issued a resolution on purchasing Covid vaccines for children under 12. Following the Health Ministry’s proposal and the Planning and Investment Ministry’s appraisal, a decision to select contractors to buy the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 was issued. The prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam have repeatedly urged the Ministry of Health to acquire the vaccine as soon as possible, the local media reported. On March 10, the prime minister asked the ministry to explain the long delay in vaccine procurement for children. Meanwhile, the ministry asked the prime minister for approval to receive 4.7 million Pfizer doses and nine million Moderna doses donated by Australia. Speaking at a press briefing on April 4, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that the first vaccine shipment for children at 5 to 11 years of age would arrive in Vietnam on May 10.