Viet Nam is expected to receive 60 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021, half of which has been committed by the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) program, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on February 19.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long (standing) speaks at the event 

The remaining 30 million doses have been agreed upon by the Health Ministry and the UK-based AstraZeneca company, Long stated during a teleconference with localities on COVID-19 prevention and control in Ha Noi.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is actively negotiating with other global vaccine developers, such as Pfizer and Moderna (US) to ensure vaccines for all people, he emphasized, noting that in the immediate future, vaccines will be prioritized for the pandemic-hit areas as well as high-risk ones.

According to the minister, the MOH has implemented the vaccine licensing mechanism in emergency conditions, which means all the related processes regarding dossiers, clinical data and vaccine quality, will be performed within only five days to promptly bring vaccines to the people.

He said that the MOH encourages enterprises with vaccine import sources to coordinate with the ministry to bring vaccines to Viet Nam, towards the goal of ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines for all Vietnamese citizens in 2021.