Overall, Vietnam has high vaccination rates against COVID-19.¹ However, vaccinations have been less accessible to those living in remote areas or with mobility challenges due to age, socio-economic status, or disability. In the central and northern provinces of Dien Bien, Son La, Hoa Binh, Quang Nam, and Ninh Thuan, MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity partnered with Vietnam’s National and Regional Expanded Program on Immunization and provincial authorities from April 2021 to September 2022  to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination among marginalized and vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities and other populations living in remote areas. The project helped implement microplanning for vaccination coverage, built health workers’ capacity to deliver the vaccines, strengthened vaccine storage and delivery practices, provided supportive supervision, supported a mobile vaccination strategy for bringing last-mile vaccination to the hard-to-reach populations, and evaluated vaccination coverage across the five provinces.

Building on this work, MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity is now working in Hoa Binh and Quang Nam Provinces to help integrate COVID-19 vaccines with routine immunizations for children under 12 through coordination with schools and other mobile vaccination sites. MOMENTUM strengthens the capacity of health staff to monitor the supply of vaccines and ensure they are safe, especially when vaccines are transported and administered outside of health facilities. We are also training health and non-health staff on demand generation, risk communication, and community engagement. MOMENTUM disseminates evidence and lessons learned from our work in Vietnam to regional, national, and global audiences.

Below, watch how we’ve vaccinated hard-to-reach populations in Vietnam against COVID-19 or check out our brief.