Vietnam expects to receive first COVID vaccines before end of March

[rooster59]

Vietnam expects to receive first COVID vaccines before end of March

By Khanh Vu

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

 

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam is expected to get access to the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX sharing scheme within the first quarter, its government said on Friday.

 

COVAX has allocated at least 330 million doses of vaccines to poorer countries and will aim to deliver these and many millions more in the first half of 2021.

 

COVAX is jointly run by the GAVI alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and UNICEF.

 

Vietnam will receive between 4.89 million and 8.25 million doses, the government said on Saturday, adding that 25%-35% would be delivered in the first quarter and the rest in the second quarter.

 

The government cited a WHO official as saying that the vaccine it will receive under the COVAX scheme is made by AstraZeneca.

 

The health ministry approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic inoculations on Jan. 30.

 

Apart from the COVAX scheme, the government has earlier said it would buy up to 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the first batch would arrive by the end of March.

 

Vietnam reported five more COVID-19 cases on Saturday and said a recent outbreak had expanded to at least 12 cities and provinces.

 

The outbreak detected on Jan. 27 has accounted for about a fifth of Vietnam's total of 1,981 coronavirus cases. It has recorded 35 deaths overall, among the lowest numbers in Asia.

 

The government on Friday called for food production to be maintained to ensure sufficient supplies "in any circumstances" referring to a possible larger spread of the virus.

 

(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Martin Petty)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-07

 

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[Naughtius Maximus]

So they'll be ahead of Thailand

[madmen]

3 minutes ago, Naughtius Maximus said:

So they'll be ahead of Thailand

Another lazy poster diving in to bash without even reading the article. 

What is covax? Does Thailand qualify? 

Keep reading.... 

 

[ourmanflint]

4 hours ago, madmen said:

Another lazy poster diving in to bash without even reading the article. 

What is covax? Does Thailand qualify? 

Keep reading.... 

 

What are you talking about? Thailand does not want to join Covax. It has said so many times, so yes, Thailand will be left behind

[chilly07]

So Thailand  is a rich nation and will loose face if clubbed together with  poorer nations which is also why they turned  down  India's offer? I think Thailand is  waiting for the market to settle as otherwise they  could be  paying to much? Or..........