Updated: 10 Sep 2021
Vietnam Tourism Recovery Plan.
Vietnam is planning to welcome back fully-vaccinated foreign visitors in the first steps to recover the tourism industry. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang will be the first destination to welcome foreign tourists under a trial vaccine passport program that will be expanded later to other famous hotspots like the towns of Ha Long, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Da Lat.
The ministry said it would create favorable conditions for domestic and international tourists with vaccination certificates in line with international recognition standards to travel to these destinations. It would also work with relevant agencies to push ahead mass vaccination for residents and tourism workers to reach herd immunity, it added.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had earlier this week ordered a pilot program to attract international tourists to the southern island of Phu Quoc from now until the end of the year, expecting 2-3 million arrivals.
Phu Quoc plans to trial a six-month vaccine passport program from October, and hopes to receive 40,000 foreign tourists during the period.
Vietnam recorded a 79 percent decline year-on-year in the number of foreign visitors in 2020 due to travel restrictions amid the pandemic. The nation welcomed just 3.83 million foreign visitors against a record 18 million in 2019, according to official data.
The government closed national borders and canceled all international flights in March last year. Only Vietnamese repatriates, foreign experts and highly-skilled workers are allowed in with stringent conditions.
Information about Vietnamese Vaccination Situation.
Vaccination is a simple, safe, and effective way of protecting you against harmful diseases, before you come into contact with them. It uses your body’s natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections and makes your immune system stronger.
Vaccines train your immune system to create antibodies, just as it does when it’s exposed to a disease. However, because vaccines contain only killed or weakened forms of germs like viruses or bacteria, they do not cause the disease or put you at risk of its complications.
Vietnam Vaccine Rate
According to the Covid-19 Vaccine Immunization Portal, more than 22 million doses out of a total of nearly 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses received have been administered. Nearly 30% of people 18 years of age and older have been vaccinated and more than 3.2 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses.
More vaccines will arrive and the number of fully vaccinated people will increase significantly. This is a valuable workforce. The southern province of Dong Nai, with 62,000 fully vaccinated people, is considering allowing these people to go out, even though the province is implementing social distancing under Directive 16.
Ho Chi Minh City plans to recruit and pay salaries for recovered patients to take part in the care of Covid-19 patients to reduce the workload on the health sector. This number has reached nearly 200,000 people, according to official figures. Dr. Nguyen Van Tuan in Australia said the number of people in Ho Chi Minh City with Covid-19 could increase to 1.7-5.2 million.
Vaccine Rate By Location
The covid pandemic situation in Vietnam- New Normal Situation.
Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, former head of the Infection – Neurology Ward of the Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, said there are four groups of people who should be allowed to participate in production, business, and return to the “new normal" life. They are: recovered Covid-19 patients; fully-vaccinated people; people who got the first dose of vaccine 14 days prior; and young families.
He explained: “Because people who have recovered from the disease will not be infected again, if fully vaccinated people are infected, most will have no symptoms or mild symptoms. People who have received one dose of vaccine have a low risk of getting serious illness if they are infected. Young families, if infected, will also have mild illness.”
If these people are allowed to return to “new normal”, it is a way to maintain resources to fight the epidemic and live with Covid-19. If we wait until at least 70% of the population are vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to re-open the economy, it will be very long. Right now, we need to restore and maintain production, business, and economic development.
Opinions of politicians and experts need to be considered soon by the Ministry of Health so that there is time to develop specific mechanisms and guidelines.
As for Hanoi, the number of people who have been fully vaccinated is only 200,000.
As of September 4, the total number of vaccines Hanoi received was just over 2.4 million doses. This is the first time the data has been made public by Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung.
So far, the whole city has administered more than 2.2 million doses, reaching 26.65% of the population. Maximum vaccination capacity is up to 280,000 doses/day.
The city’s leaders once again clarified: While the vaccination rate in the capital city is still low, it is imperative to strictly implement social distancing measures to protect the safety of people's lives, to prevent a strong outbreak leading to loss of control. Without vaccines, what can Hanoi do other than tightening social distancing?
But the proposal for fully vaccinated people to go to work should be researched and implemented as soon as possible.
After reviewing the vaccination situation and the pandemic, we really hope Vietnam Vaccine Passport will be applied soon and widely.