Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaking at the meeting. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)

Prime Minister Chinh, who is also Head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, on Friday chaired an online meeting of the Steering Committee with 63 provinces and cities.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic is under control nationwide and socio-economy is gradually recovering and developing.

Prime Minister Chinh urged completing second dose vaccination for people aged 18 years or older by December 15 or the end of December 2021 at the latest.  He stressed the need to urgently inject the third dose of vaccine to frontline workers and people aged 50 years or older with underlying diseases and to complete second dose vaccination for children from 12 to 18 years old by January 31, 2022.

The Prime Minister requested vigilance, saying sectors and localities instruct people to self-test and ensure that the vaccination campaign is scientific, safe, reasonable and effective without any incidents.

The Prime Minister requested that there should be no shortage of vaccines and treatment drugs and called for efforts to promote research and transfer of domestic production technology, putting people's lives first and foremost.