The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX Facility cannot be delivered to Vietnam as originally planned. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAXFacility cannot be delivered to Vietnam as planned in late March as producersare expanding and optimising production process,the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine has said.
Some 811,200 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses, fewer than the original plan of1.1 million doses, are scheduled to arrive in the country in the next threeweeks.
Around 3 million more doses will be arriving by the end of May, pendingoperational and supply constraints, according to a statement from UNICEF Vietnam.
On March 23, Vietnam approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use againstCOVID-19, the second approved in the Southeast Asian county after theAstraZeneca vaccine.
The Ministry of Health and vaccine suppliers have worked with Johnson &Johnson, and Moderna for COVID-19 vaccine procurement, however, they have notinformed their ability to supply vaccines in 2021.
Additionally, the country is also banking on homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, notonly to serve the domestic demands but also to export the surplus to othernations.
The front-runner among the three currently being developed in the country, NanoCovax by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, is undergoing second phase ofhuman trials, with results expected in May.
The third and final phase of human trials is scheduled totake place around May to September, and registration for circulation will bepushed forward to September, three months earlier than planned.
Vietnam started its national COVID-19 vaccination drive earlier thismonth with 117,000 doses bought commercially from AstraZeneca with frontlineworkers first in line to receive the jabs.
COVAXFacility is a global mechanism for the development, manufacture and procurementof COVID-19 candidate vaccines, facilitating and supporting member countries toaccess vaccines as they become available./.
