Viet Nam receives second shipment of 1,682,400 COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX Facility

Ha Noi, 16^th May 2021 – Viet Nam received today a second shipment of 1,682,400 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX Facility.   

This delivery of the vaccines comes in addition to a first batch delivered in April 2021 and is part of the 4.1 million vaccine doses committed to Viet Nam, free of charge, by the COVAX Facility, the international partnership created to ensure global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The COVAX Facility is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF as key delivery partner.

Since the arrival of the first shipment of vaccines from the COVAX Facility in April, more than 876,346 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Viet Nam, mainly to health workers and other frontline workers. The additional vaccines will help the Ministry of Health to expand coverage and reach more people from the priority groups, while also providing a second dose to those who have already received the first dose.

The latest shipment of Vaxzevria^® vaccines (previously called COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca) was developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. This batch is shipped from Catalent Biologics’ manufacturing facility in Anagni, Italy. The Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine has received the Emergency Use Authorization from WHO and has been used successfully in Viet Nam since March 2021 under its previous name.

Background:

For several months, COVAX partners, CEPI, GAVI, WHO and delivery partner UNICEF, have been supporting the Government of Viet Nam in readiness efforts and the national rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. They have been especially active in developing a National Vaccination Plan, as Viet Nam is benefiting from the Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The AMC is an innovative financial mechanism to help secure global and equitable access for COVID-19 vaccines.

Notes to Editors

More photos and video footages of the second shipment here

Full COVAX News Note to Editors: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax/covax-news-note-to-editors

List of donor pledges to the Gavi COVAX AMC: https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/covid/covax/COVAX-AMC-Donors-Table.pdf

UNICEF COVAX page https://www.unicef.org/supply/covax-ensuring-global-equitable-access-covid-19-vaccines

WHO Viet Nam Page: The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine: what you need to know (who.int)

Media contacts:

• Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hương, UNICEF Viet Nam, Tel. +84-24-3850-0225, +84-90-415-4678, Email: ntthuong@unicef.org
• Tran Thi Loan, WHO Viet Nam, Tel. +84-91-541-3814, Email: wpvnmmedia@who.int