Ho Chi Minh City authorities will remind local residents to get their second COVID-19 booster shots through text messages as the city is committed to providing the doses for everyone who is eligible.

The municipal People’s Committee has directed local organizations, agencies, and units to promote the second COVID-19 booster campaign in the metropolis as well as take certain measures to encourage residents to receive the doses.

The Department of Information and Communications was told to work with Viettel Telecom Corporation to utilize the COVID-19 vaccination database and send text messages to residents who are eligible for such booster shots.

These messages will act as a reminder for citizens to get vaccinated with the booster jabs at local inoculation sites.

The management boards of export processing zones, industrial parks, high-tech zones, companies, and enterprises are in charge of urging workers to get further inoculated.

These management boards will coordinate with the administrations in all districts and Thu Duc City in making a list of laborers eligible for the second booster shots.

The Department of Health was tasked with publicizing the lists of inoculation sites across the city and make daily updates on the number of booster shot recipients.

The People's Committee required local authorities to administer all the allocated vaccine doses to eligible residents before they expire.

People who do not agree to get the second boosters will be required to sign a written commitment and take responsibility for their decision if the virus rages again.

As of June 22, health workers in the city of nine million had administered more than 21.1 million vaccine doses to local residents.

The Ministry of Health announced that Vietnam had so far received over 251 million COVID-19 vaccine shots of various types, of which 228.8 million had been distributed.

There are more than 22.2 million Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech doses left, the ministry added.

By June 23, almost 100 percent of adults and 95 percent of children aged 12 to 17 in the country of 97 million had been fully inoculated against the disease.

However, the progress of providing booster shots for adults has been slowing down, with only 64.7 percent of people aged 18 and older having received the third jabs and only 2.5 million adults having received the fourth doses.

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