HCMC – The fourth shipment of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine comprising 288,000 doses arrived at HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport last night, May 25.
These doses were ordered by the Ministry of Health through the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC). Until now, Vietnam has received nearly 2.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, either purchased by VNVC or provided by the global vaccine access mechanism COVAX Facility.
The first shipment of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with 117,600 doses arrived in Vietnam on February 24, followed by the second shipment with 811,200 doses and the third shipment with 1,682,000 doses on April 1 and May 16, respectively.
Vietnam began the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign on March 8, prioritizing frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, policemen and military service members. The country has given over 1 million Covid-19 vaccine shots to people nationwide, with over 28,500 of them fully vaccinated.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the Health Ministry has successfully negotiated with the COVAX Facility and vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech to ensure a steady Covid-19 vaccine supply for Vietnam.
By the end of this year, the country expects to receive some 110 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, including 38.9 million doses from COVAX Facility, 30 million doses from AstraZeneca and 31 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech.
However, the ministry is looking for ways to secure more vaccine supplies, expecting to have 150 million doses until the end of this year to vaccinate 75% of the population.
