The COVAX Facility said on January 28 that more than 4.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZenecca will be delivered to Vietnam in the first two quarters of this year. (Photo: VNA)The Ministry of Health has set forth a plan on thereception, preservation, distribution and use of COVID-19 vaccines during the2021-2022 period, with the support of the COVAX Facility - the globalprocurement mechanism of COVAX.
COVAX is co-led by the Coalition for EpidemicPreparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi and the World Health Organization (WHO),alongside key delivery partner UNICEF. Its aim is to accelerate the developmentand manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitableaccess for every country in the world.
Other groups included in the vaccination plan are armyand police forces, teachers, people above 65, those providing essential goods,people with chronic diseases, those who have to work and study abroad, andresidents in pandemic-hit areas.
The ministry said it will only buy safe, effective vaccinesthat are assessed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and approved by theStringent Regulatory Authorities (SRA), and have suitable prices.
The vaccination aims to ensure community immunity. Vietnamexpects to have 80 percent of its population vaccinated against COVID-19.However, the current supply allows the country to inject only 20 percent of thepopulation in 2021-2022, targeting 95 percent of those vulnerable to virus infection.
The COVAX Facility programme will provide free vaccinesand injection devices to inoculate 15-16 percent of 92 countries, includingVietnam.
The COVAX Facility said on January 28 that more than4.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZenecca will bedelivered to Vietnam in the first two quarters of this year.
With the doses, around 600,000 Vietnamese people, comprisinghealth care and COVID-19 combat workers, will be given shots in the firstquarter. Meanwhile, 1.8 million customs officers, diplomats, army and policeforces and teachers will be injected in the second quarter.
During the two last quarters, 16 million teachers andpeople above 65 will access 33 million doses of vaccines to be provided by theCOVAX Facility later.
According to Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnamwill also be supplied with 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19vaccine within this year.
Vietnam is one of the 40 countries that have conductedhuman trials of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The country also has several other COVID-19 candidatevaccines being developed, by the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals(IVAC), the Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1 (VABIOTECH), andthe Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (POLYVAC)./.
VNA
