Covax pledges nearly 39 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Vietnam

The commitment was made on April 15 following negotiations between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and COVAX, an established mechanism aimed at ensuring that countries around the world have equal access to COVID-19 vaccines.

In a report to the government, the MoH said with the additional supply from COVAX, Vietnam will have enough doses to vaccinate 19.4 million people of priority groups, including healthcare workers, border guards, soldiers, policemen, members of anti-coronavirus community groups, and those on duty at quarantine facilities.

COVAX earlier this year announced it would deliver 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam this year. The first batch comprising 811,200 doses arrived in Hanoi on April 1.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company has reached a deal with AstraZeneca to purchase 30 million doses for domestic use. The first 117.600 doses were imported in late February for the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Besides the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, the MoH has also licensed the use of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Both sides are working on negotiations and it is unknown when the Russian-made vaccine is made available for use in Vietnam.

Vietnam kick-started its national COVID-19 vaccination campaign on March 8, and more than 250,000 people have been given the vaccine shot.