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Deputy director of Hanoi Centre for Diseases Control (CDC), Khong Minh Tuan said that the city has received 8,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines from the Ministry of Health and would first give injections to 30 health workers at Thanh Nhan Hospital on March 9. After that, some 300 staff members of Hanoi CDC and those with high risks of virus infections in the city will get vaccinated.

Vietnam launched a national Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the first three selected locations on March 8.

Frontline healthcare workers at the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and people in the Covid-19 hotspot of Hai Duong Province were selected to receive their first shots.

This is the first national Covd-19 vaccination campaign, using more than 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine imported last month.

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases have been given 450 doses, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases 900 doses and Hai Duong Province 32,900 doses.

The vaccination will continue in 18 other localities in the coming days, the ministry said.

The vaccine has passed quality tests by leading professionals from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and their counterparts from South Korea.

Top priority will be given to the safety of the vaccine, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said at a meeting on Sunday, adding doctors have been equipped with necessary knowledge to deal with possible emergency cases.

The vaccination will be monitored by representatives of foreign organisations in Vietnam. Foreign media workers will be also invited to give news coverage of the event.

Vietnam imported more than 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in late February. This is the first batch of the 30 million doses that Vietnam is expected to receive from AstraZeneca this year under a recently-signed deal with the manufacturer.

It is anticipated to receive another 30 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this year from COVAX, a Covid-19 vaccination mechanism co-led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), GAVI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Vietnam is negotiating to import a further 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the United States this year.

The country reported no new Covid-19 infection cases in the past 12 hours to 6:00 am on March 9.

As of Tuesday morning, the country recorded 2,524 patients including 1,586 domestically-transmitted infections.

Dtinews/VOV

Covid-19 vaccinations begin in Vietnam

On the morning of March 8, the first Vietnamese were injected with Covid-19 vaccine at four places: