People get vaccinated.

Some in Khoun district reluctant to take Covid-19 booster shots

There are adequate stocks of Covid-19 vaccines in Khoun district of Xieng Khuang province but some people who have already got two doses are reluctant to take booster shots, saying two jabs are enough for them to travel.
While this may have been the case earlier, today they cannot travel abroad because some countries require travellers to have received three or four doses. Within Laos, the people who have got two shots face no problems.
There are also some people within Laos who have received four doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Health and UNICEF recently took a team of journalists to Xieng Khuang province in northern Laos to identify key challenges in increasing Covid-19 vaccination coverage in the region and to find ways to strengthen the province’s efforts to meet the ambitious national target of 80 percent vaccination coverage by the end of 2022. Vaccination has so far been the main factor in efforts to contain the Covid-19 outbreak by immunising people.
The Deputy Governor of Khoun district, Mr Khammanh Xiong, told the media that many people aged between six and 18 years had got the first and second doses, and there were no problems with this group.
“But those aged 18 to 60 years or over 60 years do not want three or four doses. Some villagers said two injections are enough for them to travel and there is no need for more. However, now many people understand the situation and are coming to get vaccinated,” he said.
According to official figures, the district has achieved 66 percent coverage for the first dose of vaccination and 55 percent the second shot. Some people have got three or four doses.
Chaxeu Jang, a resident of Xamyoung village, told the Lao media that he had received four jabs. “If there is an opportunity to get the vaccine again, I will come to take it,” he said.
Some villagers have also been vaccinated in other provinces, including Vientiane, but have not reported this to authorities in the district. Such people usually work in other provinces. For example, some people from the district work in a banana plantation in Oudomxay province, and they were vaccinated there.
There are some provinces with similar problems as Xieng Khuang, such as Savannakhet, Khammuan and Borikhamxay.
For more than 30 years, UNICEF has been supporting the Lao government’s vaccination programmes. Earlier, it helped with routine childhood immunisation or vaccinations, and now it brings the same support and technical expertise to roll out Covid-19 vaccines.
UNICEF is committed to support the Lao government in its efforts to promote and protect the rights of all children, and to ensure quality and equity in healthcare for all Lao people.
The vaccines that have been used in the provinces include Sinopharm, Sinovac,, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
These vaccines have been supported by international partners, such as China, Vietnam, Japan, Australia, Cambodia, the European Union, Finland, France, Greece, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, either bilaterally or through the COVAX facility, a partnership co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi and the World Health Organisation, with UNICEF as key delivery partner.
Countries such as Canada, Germany, Korea, Luxembourg and Switzerland have been key supporters of COVAX and its delivery of vaccines to countries such as Laos.
Khoun district is located about 30 km from Phonsavanh in Paek district, the capital of the province.
Xieng Khuang province is about six hours by road from Vientiane. Many people coming from the south take the road through Borikhamxay as it is much shorter than travelling via the winding and mountainous Road No 13 North through Phoukhoun.
A 29-km section of the road in Borikhamxay province that links to the north is currently being rebuilt. At Thasy village, vehicles can turn left on to Road No 1D towards Xieng Khuang’s capital via Khoun district.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update August 16, 2022)