Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son examines  AstraZeneca vaccine preservation at a cold storage warehouse in HCM City on June 17. Photo: VNA

Ho Chi Minh City is set to begin its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on June 19, with priority groups to get injected with about 800,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses donated by the Japanese Government.

Checking the vaccine preservation at a cold storage warehouse in the Cat Lai Industrial Park on June 17, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said among the 966,300 vaccine doses donated by the Japanese Government to Vietnam, 836,000 doses were allocated to HCM City.

He noted according to regulations, a batch of vaccine delivered to Vietnam will undergo examination, which will take 48 hours, at the Hanoi-based National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals, and only when the vaccine gets the quality certificate can it be put into use.

The largest-ever vaccination campaign in HCM City is scheduled to last for about five to seven days, targeting the priority groups identified in the Government’s Resolution No 21.

About 1,000 sites across the city have been ready for the vaccination, he noted, adding that local authorities will mobilise the entire medical workers, including those deployed from central establishments, for the drive.

The deputy minister also assured safety for the vaccination campaign since the doses to be used have a relatively long expiry date./.

VNA/VNP