Scaling up COVID-19 vaccination rates in Viet Nam through vaccine diplomacy, efficient vaccine rollout and enhancing effective service delivery

In early 2020, the international community widely recognized Viet Nam’s efforts in successfully controlling the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. As COVID-19 stretched into its second year in 2021, the country faced a significant challenge: how to rapidly rollout COVID-19 vaccinations to a population of 98 million people amid the rising number of cases and a global shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. Through a whole-of-society approach in coordination with WHO advocacy for vaccine access, technical assistance in the development of national policies and plans, as well as its support in the implementation of vaccination in hard-to-reach areas, Viet Nam quickly ramped up its COVID-19 vaccination program within eight months, increasing its vaccination coverage from less than 1% of the population who were fully vaccinated in May 2021 to 70% in December 2021.

Viet Nam faced a slow start in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout. In May 2021, three months after starting the vaccination campaign among its priority groups – health workers, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions – less than 1% of the total population had been vaccinated with a first dose. At that time, less than 30 000 individuals had received a second dose (~0.3% of the total population). Moreover, a COVID-19 surge loomed in the second quarter of 2021, fueled by the novel and more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. It was a race against time to save lives and protect as many as possible from severe illness and hospitalization. Therefore, it was imperative that Viet Nam urgently vaccinate its priority groups. At the same time, vaccination of the remaining population was an essential step in curbing virus transmission.

How did Viet Nam do it, and how did the WHO Secretariat support Viet Nam?

In 2019, the WHO Western Pacific Region and Member States adopted “For the future: towards the healthiest and safest Region”, which includes strengthening health security as one of its thematic priorities. WHO supported Viet Nam’s COVID-19 vaccine supply and rollout through a number of operational shifts outlined in “For the Future”, such as taking a health systems approach with universal health coverage as the foundation, using strategic communications, and measuring country impact. WHO supported Viet Nam to reach their COVID-19 vaccination targets by:

• Securing a sustainable COVID-19 vaccine supply – Viet Nam’s vaccine diplomacy efforts engaged all levels of the government, the National Assembly, line ministries, and embassies to advocate for timely delivery of vaccines and associated supplies. The private sector was also onboarded to augment human resources for the vaccination rollout. The WHO Country Office in Viet Nam supported Viet Nam’s advocacy for access to vaccines through the COVAX Facility, a WHO co-led initiative which aims to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world. The WHO Country Office coordinated with COVAX and donors on the urgent needs and on the absorption capacity of Viet Nam. By December 2021, Viet Nam acquired over 160 million vaccine doses, including 46 million doses from COVAX and 22.5 million doses from over 30 donor countries.

• Ensuring health system readiness and efficiency in the vaccination rollout – The Vietnamese government ensured an efficient health system to approve the use of new COVID-19 vaccines in the country, allocate doses, transport vaccines and rapidly deploy vaccination services in cities and communes. The WHO Country Office supported Viet Nam in ensuring that policies were in place for a safe and secure vaccination rollout, including developing the National Vaccine Deployment Plan and vaccination policies for various target populations such as high-risk vulnerable groups, including the elderly, health workers, lactating and pregnant women, adolescents and children.

• Taking into account operational considerations – The WHO Country Office in Viet Nam provided technical assistance in developing operational guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccination program and training for provincial and district supervisors on monitoring and providing supportive supervision to health centers during the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program in all provinces, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. Furthermore, WHO support also included the provision of additional cold chain equipment.

• Providing training on safe vaccination and vaccine safety surveillance – WHO provided technical resource persons and financial support for the training of health workers on injection safety, managing anaphylactic reactions and syncope after vaccination and strengthening vaccine safety surveillance, including monitoring adverse events following immunization.

• Communicating with the public to increase knowledge and influence vaccine uptake behavior – WHO supported efforts to generate vaccine demand through addressing pressing questions on vaccine safety and efficacy through media interviews and Facebook engagement through relevant posts. Furthermore, the WHO Country Office raised the importance of vaccination and reaching the “last mile” through compelling video stories published on its Facebook page.

• Enhancing the information system for data collection and reporting – A WHO consultant to the national immunization program was recruited to support data collection, aggregation and analysis. Further support was provided by WHO for the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures for end-users and for cascading the training to hard-to-reach areas.

• Supporting the country’s successful application as one of the mRNA vaccine technology transfer initiative recipients – Specialized training will be provided to a vaccine company in Viet Nam on mRNA vaccine production, so that the country can start producing safe and effective vaccines at scale and according to WHO Good Manufacturing Practices as soon as possible.

Viet Nam demonstrated very high vaccine absorption capacity while ensuring safety of the vaccination campaign. More than 2.4 million doses per day were administered during peak time. Viet Nam’s efficiency in its vaccination rollout highlights its rational use of available vaccine supplies, raising the country’s profile to vaccine donors. By December 2021, the healthcare sector had safely administered over 152 million vaccine doses, resulting in 70% fully vaccinated coverage of its population. By achieving this milestone, Viet Nam reached the goal set by WHO for all countries in the world to have fully vaccinated at least 70% of their population by mid-2022. High vaccination rates have played a pivotal role in Viet Nam, averting deaths, minimizing hospitalizations and limiting the burden on its health care facilities.

To date, Viet Nam has continued COVID-19 vaccinations, focusing on reaching the “last mile” and leaving no one behind. As of 27 March 2022, Viet Nam administered more than 200 million doses, with 81% of its total population receiving the first dose and 77% completing two doses, and more than 33% of the total population have received booster shots. Political commitment, along with strong support from WHO and other international partners and country donors, were key factors that helped Viet Nam successfully implement its COVID-19 vaccination program.

REFERENCE

[1] UN Chronicles, 2020. Game-Changers in Viet Nam’s Successful COVID-19 Response. https://www.un.org/ar/node/97757