First doses [811,200] of Covid-19 vaccines under the COVAX Facility was delivered to Vietnam on April 1 thanks to efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

First shipment of COVAX vaccines delivered to Vietnam on April 1. Photos: UNICEF and WHO

UNICEF has delivered the shipment to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), saying it’s working with COVAX partners to facilitate timely and equitable access to vaccines.

Dr Kidong Park, WHO Representative in Vietnam (from left), UN Resident Coordinator Kamal Malhotra, and UNICEF Representative in Vietnam Rana Flowers at the hand-over ceremony.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam previously accepted the Covid-19 vaccines from the global Covid-19 vaccine sharing COVAX Facility, acknowledging the contribution of WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, CEPI, donors and partners who contributed to the deployment of vaccines to Vietnam.

Representatives of Vietnam and international organizations at the hand-over ceremony on April 1.

COVAX aims to supply vaccines for at least 20% of the population of each participating country this year. In this first round of vaccine allocation, all COVAX participating countries will receive enough doses to vaccinate between 2.2% and 2.6% of their population.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at the hand-over ceremony.

The next batch of COVAX vaccine for Vietnam is scheduled in May with 3.36 million and the following shipments are expected to take place at the end of this year.

Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX Facility arrives in Vietnam.

Vietnam received the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine [117,000 doses] which was imported from British-Swedish AstraZeneca plc on February 24.

So far, the first vaccine have been administered to roughly 50,000 local people who are of frontline forces like doctors, health workers.