Vientiane authorities have an amitious plan to have 80 per cent of its population vaccinated against Covid-19 to create herd immunity and break the chain of Covid-19 infection by the end of this year.

Over 260,000 people have received a first shot of Covid-19 in Vientiane where hundreds of local transmisions have been recorded over the past couple of months.

Dr Bounthavy Detbundith, Deputy Director, Vientiane Department of Health said last week that so far Vientiane has three vaccines approved for use including Sinopharm, Pfizer and AstraZeneca and all of them are safe and effective in preventing serious cases of COVID-19.

Early this month a shipment of 100,620 doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived in Vientiane from the COVAX Facility, a partnership between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Since Jun 15, Pfizer vaccines have been administered to priority groups including frontline workers, people aged 60 and over and those with underlying health conditions.

“It is important that after vaccinated you should keep staying safe to protect yourselves and others by avoiding crowded places, practising social distancing, washing hands and wearing face masks,” said the deputy director.

Source: Lao News Agency