Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has declared 10 demographics to be prioritized for the country’s free COVID-19 vaccination program.

In a written directive on the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine, Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen required authorities of all 63 provinces to report the tally of the prioritized beneficiaries to prepare the dosages needed.

As per the document, the ten priority groups for complimentary COVID-19 vaccination are:

- Frontline forces (including medical practitioners, frontline volunteers, soldiers, and police officers on frontline missions)

- Consular staffers and officers of Vietnam on duty; officers whose jobs require direct contact with government guests, repatriating Vietnamese citizens, diplomatic delegations, and organizations within the United Nations in Vietnam

- Immigration officers

- Essential service workers: aviation, transport, tourism, electricity, and water supply

- Teachers, staffers at education facilities, and workers at administration offices whose jobs require coming into contact with people frequently

- People with chronic diseases

- People of 65 years old and above

- People in outbreak sites

- Poor people, and people who depend on social welfare

- People who are sent on study or duty trips abroad by government agencies

Over 53,000 Vietnamese nationals have been inoculated during the first phase of vaccination, which was launched in early March, according to the Ministry of Health’s statistics,

On April 1, Vietnam received 811,200 COVID-19 vaccine doses via COVAX, a global program that works to accelerate the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines as well as ensure fair and equitable access for every country.

The Southeast Asian country is also anticipating the arrival of three other COVID-19 vaccine packages with a combined volume of five million doses.

The country has recorded 2,648 cases of COVID-19, with 2,422 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths as of Wednesday morning, according to the Ministry of Health’s data.