Japan has recently announced it will provide US$41 million to Vietnam and 24 other countries to set up ultra-cold storage chains and medical equipment to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ultra-cold storage units operated by Vietnam Vaccine JSC. Photo: VNVC

The grant will enable the countries, all of them in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia and the Pacific, to vaccinate their populations.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the grant would be provided through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"This aid is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in all corners of developing countries, which will complement the efforts of the Covax Facility," the ministry said.

Covax is a global mechanism for developing, manufacturing and procuring Covid-19 vaccines and supplying member countries.

Vietnam began its vaccination campaign on March 8, starting with prioritized categories of people like frontline medical staff in 13 cities and provinces recently faced the novel coronavirus outbreaks.

The country has ordered the first batch of 30 million vaccine doses from British-Swedish developers AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and around 117,600 arrived in Vietnam in late February. It will receive another 4.1 million AstraZeneca doses through Covax by April.

Vietnam has four domestic Covid-19 vaccine candidates under development by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals.

Vietnam has been making effort to handle the ongoing community Covid-19 infection that broke out in late January. The coronavirus tally so far in the country is 2,529, with 486 active cases.