A high school student receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at Tien Son Stadium, Da Nang, on November 20, 2021.

From when the first vaccine vials touched down in Vietnam in late February until December 4, a total of 150,623,444 doses have arrived in the country: 48,700,000 doses of Sinopharm’s Vero Cell Inactivated vaccine, 46,688,076 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 46,576,370 doses of mRNA vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna), along with 5,150,000 doses of Cuba’s three-shot Abdala vaccine and 1,508,998 doses of Sputnik V vaccine.

Being the second largest vaccine providers, just after AstraZeneca at 55 million doses, especially given that Vietnam is using Pfizer in its inoculation drive for 12-17 year olds, a Pfizer Vietnam representative said they were committed to delivering orders on time.

“We continue to work in collaboration with Government authorities and remain committed to ensuring smooth delivery of total 51 million Comirnaty doses and deployment of our vaccine in the country’s immunisation programme,” the source said via email.

The company also reiterated that Vietnam, a lower to middle-income country, would pay a not-for-profit price for Pfizer vaccines during the pandemic.

A total of 141.5 million doses have been distributed to local health authorities, with a further million shots pending quality controls review, according to the health ministry.

To date, about 122.15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered among adults, including 68.95 million first doses and 53.16 million second doses.

Some 95.6 per cent of the adult population have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 73.7 per cent have received two doses.

The southern region, the epicentre of Vietnam’s fourth wave of infections, boasted first dose and second dose coverage at 99.2 per cent and 93.3 per cent respectively. The numbers in the northern, central region, and Central Highlands are 91.5 per cent and 66.5 per cent, 92.4 per cent and 68.2 per cent, and 93.8 per cent and 56.5 per cent respectively.

A total of 53 out of the country’s 63 provinces and cities have given at least one dose of vaccine to over 80 per cent of its residents aged 18 years old and above, including 28 beating the 95 per cent threshold.

Only four localities – three in the northern mountainous region: Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, and one in the central region – recorded dose coverage below 80 per cent (ranging between 73 and 78 per cent).

The health ministry is seeking to give 100 per cent of the population aged 12 and above at least one dose of vaccine within 2021, and preparing to administer additional booster shots in December for the vulnerable and frontline workers.

A total of 49 localities have carried out child inoculation since the launch at the end of October, with 5.3 million shots already administered, and 47.8 per cent of the population aged 12-17 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 10.3 per cent receiving the full two doses.

As of Monday, Vietnam currently ranks ninth in the world in terms of vaccine doses given (127 million), and tenth in the world with regards to the total number of people fully vaccinated (53.7 million), according to Our World in Data. 

Source: Vietnam News

More than 92 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Vietnam

Vietnam has received 92.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, foreign government aid, and contracts, the Ministry of Health said Sunday.