The Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations has urged the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control to administer vaccine shots to hundreds of thousands of foreigners in the city.

More than 210,000 foreigners who are studying and working in the metropolis wish to receive COVID-19 vaccination, the department quoted statistics provided by embassies and consulates general as saying in a document sent to the steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control on Friday.

Many countries have donated medical equipment and vaccines to Vietnam, most of which have been distributed to Ho Chi Minh City.

Aside from direct support from several countries, a lot of nations have also provided Vietnam with vaccine doses via the COVAX Facility, an international partnership created to ensure global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

In many countries, Vietnamese citizens have the opportunity to receive vaccination similar to local residents.

Some nations hope that the Vietnamese government pay attention to and vaccinate their citizens in the Southeast Asian country.

Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations requested the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control to give vaccine shots to foreigners who are studying and working in the southern metropolis.

The agency also asked the city’s Department of Health to allocate vaccine doses for the vaccination of foreigners.

As of Saturday, Ho Chi Minh City had administered more than three million COVID-19 jabs to local residents.

Among them, 2.1 million doses were given from July 22 to August 7.

Municipal authorities have set a target to administer at least one dose to 70-80 percent of the residents age 18 and older by the end of this month.

Vietnam had documented 205,656 COVID-19 cases by Sunday morning, with 66,637 recoveries and 3,250 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The country has recorded 201,743 local infections in 62 provinces and cities, including 119,802 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, since the fourth wave began on April 27.

Nearly 8.9 million vaccine doses have been administered since inoculation was rolled out on March 8, with 888,459 people fully vaccinated.

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