Vietnam receives additional 6.27 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from European nations

Of the total, up to 4,000,230 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were donated by the Government of Germany, 99,450 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer came from by the Government of Luxembourg, 159,120 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer were given by the Government of Portugal and 2,012,960 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were donated by the UK, all through the COVAX Facility.

German Ambassador to Vietnam Dr. Guido Hildner said: “Germany has donated vaccines and medical equipment to Vietnam on several occasions in 2021. With this new shipment of over 4 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine via COVAX, Germany continues its ongoing support to Vietnam to fight and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He noted that in 2022, Germany will continue to show solidarity with Vietnam in the fight against the effects of the pandemic and provide further vaccines through the international vaccine platform COVAX.

“We can only defeat the pandemic if it is brought under control everywhere,” the ambassador said, stressing that Germany and the European Union support the COVAX vaccine campaign for fair and transparent access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

The recent delivery is the largest German donation of vaccine doses to Vietnam to date, bringing the total number of vaccines supplied by Germany to Vietnam to over 10 million doses.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward said: “This donation is part of the UK’s support to Vietnam’s roadmap of opening the economy by facilitating its vaccine boosting at a large scale.”

“We are committed to accompanying Vietnam to embrace a new chapter in 2022 when we all can live with COVID-19 with peace and prosperity again,” he pledged.

The UK is currently one of the largest donors to the COVAX Facility, providing over 548 million GBP to supply vaccines globally, including Vietnam.

This contribution also marks the third bilateral vaccine commitment by the UK Government to Vietnam after the arrival of more than 727,000 doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in 2021.

In 2022, the UK will continue to strengthen the bilateral health partnership by supporting Vietnam to build a resilient health system through providing vaccines and medical supplies, and by facilitating knowledge exchange opportunities between the two countries.

Representing the Embassy of Luxembourg in Vietnam, Honorary Consul in Hanoi Tran Hong Quang, stressed that “no one should be left behind in the fight against COVID-19”.

A longstanding supporter of global vaccination efforts, Luxembourg actively engages in multilateral initiatives such as COVAX. In late 2021, Luxembourg doubled its financial contributions to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment to 4 million EUR in order to support the procurement of vaccines around the world and mitigate the effects of the two-track pandemic.

Luxembourg’s support to immunisation programmes in Vietnam in fact date back to the 1990’s and the development of a nationwide vaccine cold chain. B Medical System, the leading manufacturer and distributor of cold chain equipment, has since delivered more than 30,000 blood and vaccine cold chain units. An additional 174 refrigerators arrived in June 2021 through Gavi and UNICEF funded projects which will assist with the storage of vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccine. Representing the Portuguese Embassy in Vietnam, Honorary Consul General Tran Kim Chung said Portugal donated almost 160,000 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam via the COVAX Facility last year, showing its solidarity with the Southeast Asian country in the fight against the pandemic. Portugal will continue to support Vietnam in health care to cope with challenges caused by the pandemic and ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for Vietnamese people, he added.

Lesley Miller, OIC Representative of UNICEF Vietnam said: "On behalf of the UN Family, I would like to thank the Government and people of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom for ensuring this timely, and important contribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam."

The donation of vaccines from generous countries is proving an essential contribution to the equitable distribution of both initial and booster doses to populations around the world, she said.

Nevertheless, still more is needed, and the virus will continue its unpredictable path of mutation and waves of complex outbreaks, until all countries achieve strong vaccination coverage.

Vietnam has proven itself highly efficient in the safe delivery of vaccines, ensuring they are utilised effectively.

With the delivery of vaccines donated by the Government of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and the UK, Viet Nam has so far received 51,024,180 doses of COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility.