Vietnam will contribute another US$500,000 to the global vaccine-sharing COVAX Facility, totaling $1 million as part of its efforts to join the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in Paris on Nov 3.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced the amount at the meeting with Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in Paris, France on November 3 (local time).

Aurélia Nguyen thanked the Government of Vietnam for its contributions as it largely showed the country’s international responsibility in the context that it remains among underdeveloped countries.

She said Vietnam’s decision means a lot at a time when the COVAX Facility would call for further contributions by the international community in the next few weeks. She hoped that Vietnam would spread the sharing spirit among ASEAN member states and all stakeholders to help the facility fulfill its target of vaccinating 70% world population by mid-2022. 

At the meeting, Chinh thanked the COVAX for the 39 million doses of vaccine that it’s committed to providing Vietnam free of charge in 2021. So far, nearly 23 million doses have been delivered to the country.

Chinh said Covid-19 in Vietnam is basically under control and it has enabled the country to switch to flexible adaptation to the pandemic and continue its recovery plans with a focus on economic connectivity and tourism.

Nonetheless, Vietnam needs more vaccines as soon as possible to increase the vaccination coverage, including children, he said, expecting more support from the COVAX Facility.

Aurélia Nguyen highly appreciated Vietnam’s quick and effective vaccination. She said COVAX has increased its vaccine allocation to Vietnam after her talks with PM Chinh on September 20, 2021. During the talks, she offered her assurance that COVAX was working tirelessly to realize its commitments to participants and commended Vietnam’s effective vaccine rollout and support for COVAX.

During the meeting, Aurélia said COVAX has decided to supply Vietnam another 9.2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to extend its support for the pandemic fight in the Southeast Asian country. The total includes 8.2 million doses of Pfizer and one million doses of Moderna vaccines. The additional volume would arrive in Vietnam soon. 

In the meeting in Paris, she affirmed that COVAX would continue to accompany Vietnam in the fight against Covid-19 through vaccine supply, technical support in the inoculation campaign, and seeking vaccine sources on a cost-sharing basis.

Aurélia Nguyen is the first person whom PM Chinh met during his three-day visit to France starting on November 3.

Aurélia whose father’s country of origin is Vietnam was named by TIME magazine to the 2021 TIME100 Next list honoring “the 100 individuals who are shaping the future of their fields and defining the next generation of leadership.”

Holding a Master’s degree in Health Policy, Planning & Financing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics, Aurélia served as Gavi’s Managing Director for Vaccines & Sustainability, leading the end-to-end work of designing Gavi’s vaccine programs until her appointment as Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility.

COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a groundbreaking global collaboration bringing together governments, scientists, businesses, civil society, donors, and global health organizations to speed up an end to the pandemic.