The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and Ministry of Health (MOH) have urged localities to take full advantage of information technology (IT) to administer vaccinations rapidly and effectively. IT applications, including portals and apps, help speed up the nationwide vaccination campaign and support the management of COVID-19 vaccinations in the country.
Speaking at an online conference on IT applications in COVID-19 prevention and control, Do Cong Anh, the Deputy Director of MIC’s Department of Informatisation emphasised that utilising IT would ensure transparency in the vaccination process. According to a news report, four vaccination management platforms have been built by the military-run telecom group Viettel under the guidelines of the two ministries, including the electronic health record app, a portal for COVID-19 immunisation information, a system supporting national vaccination, and an MCC Centre, with its database to be managed centrally and transparently.
The databases of these platforms are strictly managed, ensuring transparency of information for both people and state management agencies. The vaccination management system has been implemented in five steps from vaccination registration to post-vaccination monitoring. People can register to get a COVID-19 vaccine via the e-health record application and immunisation information portal. After receiving the information, departments of health in specific areas will guide people to vaccination sites.
The health departments will be in charge of allocating vaccines to vaccination sites. After being vaccinated, people can track their vaccination records via the two platforms. The data will be centrally managed on the national COVID-19 vaccination management platform and will support the National Immunisation Steering Committee to monitor vaccination results and manage the nationwide vaccination campaign.
Deputy Minister of MIC, Nguyen Huy Dung, explained that the vaccination management platform was capable of managing vaccines from their arrival in Vietnam, to their storage, distribution, and shipping to vaccination sites, and the point of injection. Each dose, batch, and type of vaccine has been tightly managed at each vaccination site, the report said. “The IT application will help us deploy the vaccination campaign more rapidly and conveniently,” he said.
Vo Thị Trung Trinh, Deputy Director of the HCM City’s Department of Information and Communications said the application of the national vaccination management platform in the fifth phase of the city-wide vaccination campaign has increased the number of vaccinated people to 930,230 after ten days. Trinh also said the department had suggested measures to deal with unexpected situations that arise in different localities. Additionally, the city also recommended the department send IT staff to standardise vaccination registration data and ensure the apps were being used effectively.
The department will make a list of people that need to be vaccinated on the national immunisation portal and e-health book app and use pandemic data to point out the hot spots where rapid vaccination is needed. Anh confirmed the practice of using the IT applications in HCM City was a valuable test case for expanding the technology nationwide. He has asked the departments of health and information and communications to register for vaccination via the e-health record application or immunisation information portal.
All vaccination sites, including mobile ones, must be connected to the Internet. Technological systems and platforms related to COVID-19 vaccination would be further upgraded.
