Military-run telecom group Viettel has developed a digital health record system that allows people to register for COVID-19 vaccination, make health declarations, and receive information on the time and venue for the inoculation online.
According to reports, the system is a part of Vietnam’s efforts to apply technology in managing and certifying COVID-19 vaccinations. The country is gearing up to start a nationwide inoculation drive. People can register to schedule a COVID-19 immunisation appointment on the system, which is available as a website and mobile application. They will then receive a unique QR code to use for a quick check-in for the appointment at their chosen location.
Once operational, the system will allow people to cut their wait time and avoid mass gatherings at vaccination centres. It will also provide facts and information about COVID-19 vaccines and inoculation. Vaccine recipients will be sent another QR code as proof of vaccination, which will be later integrated into their digital health record, said Luu The Anh, Deputy Director of the Viettel Business Solutions Corporation (VTS)’s Medical Solution Centre.
According to the national technology centre for COVID-19 prevention and control, the digital vaccination management and certification system will play a very significant role given that more COVID-19 vaccine doses are arriving and will be administered in the coming months. With more foreign experts, who have been vaccinated against the virus, expected to enter Vietnam and the ongoing vaccination campaign, it is necessary to provide vaccine recipients with a digital certificate that enables them to travel from one region or country to others.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is cooperating with firms to develop a globally recognised system for digital COVID-19 vaccine certification. Anh noted that the centre has worked on the digital health record system and vaccination management platform since the beginning of 2021. Viettel, at the same time, started offering training on the system for staff of the General Department of Preventive Medicine and local Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Updating the system’s database may be challenging in the coming time and so is the training for health workers from 12,000 health clinics qualified to provide vaccination services in such a short time. He added that digitalising the vaccination database remains an important step forward to help the country speed up the vaccine rollouts.
The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the largest-ever immunisation drive in Vietnam, kicked off with a ceremony held on 10 July. News reports have stated that the campaign will be conducted from July 2021 to April 2022. It is targeting people aged 18 and above and is the largest of its kind in the country. Under the government and the Prime Minister’s directions, the Ministry of Health and relevant ministries and sectors have exerted every effort to acquire COVID-19 vaccines amid a global vaccine shortage. So far, Vietnam has secured 105 million vaccine doses for this year and is working to get 150 million doses so as to achieve herd immunity in late 2021 or early 2022. This July, more than 8 million doses are set to be delivered to Vietnam, which is on time for the pandemic’s complex developments in Ho Chi Minh City and some other southern localities.