Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on June 25 that Japan will give one million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam, the second batch for the Southeast Asian country within 10 days.

Vietnamese Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long (L) and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio at Noi Bai International Airport on June 16 greet the first batch of one million Covid-19 vaccine doses from the government of Japan. Photos: Tran Minh

“The supply is a proof of the countries’ friendship,” the Embassy of Japan in Hanoi said in a statement.

Toshimitsu Motegi said at a press conference Friday [June 25] that arrangements for the delivery are in the progress, Reuters reported.

Recipient countries and territories that each gets one million include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan (China), and Thailand.

Japan would also supply 11 million doses to countries in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia and the Pacific Islands through the WHO-led COVAX Facility from mid-July, Motegi announced. Japan is one of the largest donors of this global scheme.

On June 16, a batch of more than 966,000 doses arrived in Vietnam and they were soon allocated to Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic hub that is now the country’s Covid-19 hotspot.

The vaccine arrives in Noi Bai on June 16.