Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccination will be conducted in line with the Government’s resolution, thus ensuring equal access to the vaccines, heard a recent meeting between the Health Ministry and WHO and UNICEF representatives.
A plane carrying the first batch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine landed at Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City, on February 24. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccination
will be conducted in line with the Government’s resolution, thus ensuring equal
access to the vaccines, heard a recent meeting between the Health
Ministry and WHO and UNICEF representatives.
The meeting took place after the first batch of
COVID-19 vaccines, jointly studied and produced by AstraZeneca pharmaceutical
company and the UK’s Oxford University, arrived in Vietnam on February 24.
Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long expressed his thanked for efforts by
the COVAX Facility programme to help Vietnam soon approach the vaccines.
Vietnam wishes to get quality vaccines at suitable
prices and matching the country’s storage capacity, he said, pledging that his
ministry will promptly deal with procedure-related issues to facilitate the delivery
of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX Facility programme.
The ministry has assigned relevant agencies to put
forth communication plans for the vaccination.
Representatives from the international organisations
agreed on the need to mobilise the involvement of different economic sectors in
the storage of certain vaccines like Pfizer that must be kept at minus 70
degree Celsius and can be refrigerated for only five days.
This has been the biggest vaccination campaign in
Vietnam so far, with more than 100 million doses, Long said, informing that the
ministry has promptly charted scenarios and mobilised the participation of all
units both and outside the medical sector in this campaign.
The participants also stressed the significance of supervising
and assessing the body’s reactions to the vaccine.
A plane carrying the first batch of 117,600 doses of
COVID-19 vaccine landed at Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City, on February
24.
Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong highlighted
the significance of the vaccine delivery at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic
is erupting in Hai Duong, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh.
With the delivery, Vietnam has become one of the first
countries in Asia to access a prestigious vaccine in the world.
Result from clinical trials showed that 22 days after
the first shot, AstraZeneca vaccine could fully protect people from serious
illness, hospitalisation and death caused by the novel coronavirus. Within 90
days, the vaccine’s potency could reach 76 percent.
Analyses showed that the vaccine could reduce
infection risk by two thirds for cases without symptoms./.