A COVID-19 vaccine is administered at Hữu Nghị Hospital in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — More than 8 million shots of COVID-19 vaccine have been given to people in Việt Nam as of the end of Thursday, with over 820,000 having been given two jabs, according to the health ministry on Friday.

By August 5, HCM City, the country's current COVID-19 epicentre, had given jabs to more than 2 million people, with 28.92 per cent of adults receiving at least one vaccine dose, the second highest rate in the country so far.

Bắc Ninh has administered 318,760 doses, but due to its much smaller population, the northern province, a former hot spot, has covered 32.35 per cent of its adults with at least one dose.

The capital city of Hà Nội has administered 1,198,036 doses, with 20.85 per cent of the adult population receiving at least one dose.

By July 27, five months after Việt Nam started giving COVID-19 vaccinations to its people, the number of injections exceeded 5 million; more than 6 million by July 31; and now more than 8 million.

The COVID-19 vaccine campaign is now open to all people from 18 and older.

The vaccination campaign is currently entering the fifth phase according to the Ministry of Health's plan. HCM City has completed the fifth round of vaccinations and started implementing the sixth round from August 3.

So far six vaccines have been licensed for use in Việt Nam by the Ministry of Health. Five of these have been delivered to Việt Nam (AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm and Moderna).

In July, Việt Nam approved Johnson & Johnson's Janssen coronavirus vaccine for emergency use but no delivery or purchase from the US group has been confirmed.

New shipment

AstraZeneca vaccines in cold storage at the Việt Nam Vaccines Joint Stock Company (VNVC). Photo VNVC

A further 592,100 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca, arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City on Friday morning.

This is the seventh delivery under the pre-order contract of 30 million doses between Việt Nam Vaccines Joint Stock Company (VNVC) and AstraZeneca, under the support of the Ministry of Health.

From July 9 to August 6, Việt Nam has received a batch of vaccines, as part of the contract, every week.

Over seven deliveries, VNVC has received nearly 4.4 million doses of AstraZeneca (equivalent to about 37 per cent of the total amount of the vaccines in the country). 

Some 25.6 million more doses, under the contract, will be delivered by AstraZeneca as soon as possible.

So far, Việt Nam has received a total of 11.5 million doses of AstraZeneca from three sources: VNVC contracts, the COVAX mechanism and aid from other governments. AstraZeneca accounts for 62 per cent of the total number of COVID vaccines in the country.

In addition, there are more than 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine donated by the US, more than 400,000 doses of Pfizer purchased by the Ministry of Health, more than 10,000 doses of Sputnik V donated by the Russian government, and 1.5 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China and ordered by HCM City.

Last week, AstraZeneca announced it had delivered one billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to people in 170 countries. AstraZeneca accounts for more than 60 per cent of the total vaccine supply to 128 countries.

COVAX is a global initiative between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.  — VNS