The vaccines will be transferred to the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for preservation and testing before being distributed to provinces for use in the third phase of vaccination.

This is the second batch of AstraZeneca vaccine distributed by Covax Facility to Vietnam. The first batch with 811,200 doses delivered to Vietnam on April 1 has been used.

Earlier, Covax Facility committed to provide Vietnam with nearly 39 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, enough for 19.4 million people in the nine priority groups. The vaccines will be delivered from now to early 2022.

The first shipment of vaccines provided by Covax Facility to Vietnam.

After two phases of vaccination since March 8, Vietnam has given than 977,000 doses in 62 provinces and cities. There was one fatal case – a nurse in the southern province of An Giang who died after an anaphylaxis reaction

At a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 15, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that Vietnam has registered to buy 170 million doses of vaccine from many sources, of which about 110 million doses have been committed, including 38.9 million doses from Covax Facility, 30 million doses from AstraZeneca imported by VNVC, and 31 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech.

The Ministry of Health has registered with Covax Facility to buy about 10 million more doses of vaccines under the cost-sharing mechanism at a preferential price.

However, according to Minister Long, the supply progress is uncertain because it depends on the manufacturer, especially in the context of the current shortage of vaccines throughout the world.

AstraZeneca vaccine storage warehouse at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

The ministry will try its best to negotiate with manufacturers, suppliers and organizations to have more vaccines for Vietnam.

Domestically, Vietnam has four vaccine research and production units. So far, the Nanocovax vaccine has completed trial of phase 2, while IVAC vaccine is now in trial of phase 1. It is expected that Vietnam can produce a vaccine in 2022.

The Ministry of Health has proposed that the World Health Organization (WHO) receive technology transfer for vaccine production.

Vietnam begun its inoculation campaign on March 8. As of May 15, as many as 977,032 frontline medical workers and members of the community-based anti-COVID-19 groups received COVID-19 vaccine shots.

COVAX, the overarching effort to accelerate development and access to COVID vaccines, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) working in partnership with UNICEF as well as the World Bank, manufacturers and civil society organizations, and others.

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