First shipment of Covid-19 vaccine provided by Covax to arrive in Vietnam on April 1

A medical worker receives a Covid-19 vaccine shot. A shipment of 811,200 AstraZeneca vaccine doses is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam on April 1 – PHOTO: VNA

Professor Dr Dang Duc Anh, chairman of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said the shipment of 811,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be transported to the institute for storage before the Ministry of Health delivers them to cities and provinces. 

Covax Facility is a global initiative led by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and others. Its mission is to coordinate international resources to enable the equitable access of Covid-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.

Covax Facility initially planned to send 1.37 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam on March 25. According to UNICEF Representative to Vietnam Rana Flowers, the projected deliveries of the Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam have been delayed, while the amounts to be sent have been reviewed and adjusted due to production delays of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Based on initial information shared by the manufacturer, the aim is to deliver a total of more than 4 million doses to Vietnam by the end of May.

Vietnam expects to have 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine this year, including 30 million doses provided by Covax Facility and 30 million others ordered by Vietnam Vaccine JSC.

On March 23, the Ministry of Health approved Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the second Covid-19 vaccine to get emergency use authorization in Vietnam after British drugmaker AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

The ministry is negotiating with Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and some other vaccine manufacturers from India and other countries for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, while accelerating the development of locally made vaccines.

Up to now, Vietnam has received more than 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine ordered by Vietnam Vaccine JSC and the vaccination campaign began on March 8, with priority given to frontline workers.

As of this morning, March 30, over 46,000 people in 19 cities and provinces have been injected with the Covid-19 vaccine. Some of them experienced slight post-vaccination side effects, while only a few suffered from serious allergic reactions.

Source: thesaigontimes.vn
Collected by My Nguyen