HCMC – The German Government has decided to donate some 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam to assist the country’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, while Russia has committed to providing Vietnam with 20 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine this year.
Germany had earlier announced that it would donate 75 ventilators, 15 medical monitors and 20,000 oxygen meters to Vietnam, the local media reported.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany’s support is valuable and prompt as Vietnam is struggling with the spike in new infections and highlights the bilateral partnership between the two countries.
Amid the unpredictable trajectory of the pandemic, the Vietnamese Government has tried to approach multiple sources of Covid-19 vaccines to quickly bring the pandemic under control.
Germany has so far been the biggest European Union vaccine donor to Vietnam. This was the result of the efforts of many agencies at many levels, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s letter sent to and talks with his German counterpart Angela Merkel as well as the endeavor of the Government’s working group on vaccine diplomacy, ministries and Vietnamese agencies in Germany.
Germany has been among the biggest donors of the COVAX Facility with a commitment of 2.2 billion euros (US$2.6 billion). By the end of 2021, Germany is expected to provide 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to developing countries.
At a meeting with Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Yurievich Krivoruchko on September 4, in the framework of the 2021 Army Games, Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang thanked Russia for the support and expected it to continue supplying more Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam.
In March last year, Russia presented Vietnam with 1,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses.
To date, Vietnam has received over 29 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, including some 19.1 million doses of AstraZeneca, more than three million doses of Pfizer and over five million doses of Moderna.
The Government aims to have 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to cover 70% of the population and reach herd immunity.
