Vietnam's vaccination campaign has made remarkable strides over the last six months.
VnExpress reports that the Ministry of Health recently announced that all adults eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine have been given their first shot.
As of last week, over 163 million shots had been administered in total, with 78.4 million people receiving at least one dose. All told, 71.5 million of those people had gotten two shots, while 13.6 million had gotten their third, according to the ministry's data. Overall, more than 93% of Vietnam's adult population has now gotten two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
It is not clear how many of these third doses were booster shots for two-dose vaccines such as AstraZeneca and Pfizer, and how many were the third routine dose for Cuba's Abdala vaccine, which is in limited use in Vietnam.
When it comes to those under 18, six million children are fully vaccinated, with 68% of the 12–17 age group have gotten two doses thus far.
The health ministry aims to fully vaccinate the rest of that demographic by the end of this month, and provide booster shots to all adults by the end of March.
Since struggling to get its vaccination drive off the ground in the middle of 2021 due to global vaccine shortages, Vietnam has achieved one of the world's highest vaccination rates.
