Vietnam speeds up purchase of COVID-19 vaccines

This is the result of the working session between the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Russian Direct Investment Fund which took place on Wednesday. The Ministry of Health has been working for nearly a year to secure the COVID-19 vaccine for the people.

A representative of the Russian Direct Investment Fund said that in the first batch, Russia will only provide Vietnam with several hundred thousand doses. Subsequent deliveries will have several million doses each. Deliveries can be made starting this July.

The Ministry of Health said that, in addition to the 120 million doses of vaccines that the partners have committed to supply to Vietnam this year, the ministry will continue to negotiate to buy more vaccine. The MoH has registered with COVAX to buy 10 million doses via a cost-sharing mechanism.

In addition to the 31 million doses of AstraZeneca contracted, the Ministry of Health has registered to buy another 20 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech.