HCMC – AstraZeneca has shipped three batches totaling more than two million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam, as part of the 30 million doses bought by the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC), according to VNVC.
This is the largest volume of the AstraZeneca vaccine that Vietnam has received. VNVC has inked a not-for-profit deal to transfer the entire 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Ministry of Health to give free vaccinations to the population.
So far, Vietnam has received some 29.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of September 1, including 10.1 million doses purchased by VNVC, three million doses donated by Japan and six million doses donated by the United States through the COVAX Facility.
This month, an additional 9.3 million doses are expected to be handed over to Vietnam, the local media reported.
Today, September 1, the Ministry of Health wrote to the municipal and provincial Departments of Health and hospitals stating that 20 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered and asking them to work out plans to give the second shot to those who have already got the first shot as soon as they receive the vaccines from the ministry.
The ministry also asked for daily reports on the vaccination progress and reports after vaccination drives.
Over the past few days, the vaccination program has slowed due to draconian travel restrictions, especially in HCMC. The country administered only some 200,000-300,000 doses per day, much lower than the one million doses per day in late July and early August.
