Viet Nam signs deal to buy 31 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses
VGP – Viet Nam has signed an agreement to purchase 31 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for its ongoing national vaccination program, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
These doses will be delivered in the third and fourth quarters in 2021, raising the total volume of imported COVID-19 vaccines in the year to 110 million doses.
Viet Nam has received a total of 2,611,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses, including 2,493,600 ones shipped by the COVAX Facility.
More than 1,011,390 frontline workers have been vaccinated between March 8 and May 18, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Government planned to acquire 150 million vaccine doses to cover 70% of the country’s population.
On May 18, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reiterated that COVID-19 vaccine purchase is an urgent task that must be immediately carried out.
As of mid-May 19, Viet Nam had recorded 4,579 cases of COVID-19, with 2,687 recoveries and 37 deaths.
The national tally includes 3,108 domestically-transmitted infections and 1,471 imported cases.
As many as 1,538 new local infections were detected since the latest outbreak hit the country on April 27./.
By Thuy Dung
