Vials of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đạt

HÀ NỘI — The Government has agreed to buy additional 20 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, on top of the contract for 31 million doses signed with the US company in May.

The Ministry of Health was assigned to purchase the vaccine as soon as possible to meet COVID-19 prevention and control efforts and ensure quality and efficiency during the purchase and use of the vaccine.

The price is not publicly available, but Pfizer has a 'differential pricing approach' for its vaccines, which essentially means Việt Nam could purchase the doses at a more affordable price than the developed nations like the US or the EU.

Last month, Pfizer committed to supplying another 20 million doses to Việt Nam to be used specifically for children aged between 12 and 18 years old, bringing the total doses of vaccines pledged for Việt Nam to more than 51 million.

Only about 1.2 million doses of Pfizer have arrived in the country, with the majority of the commitment expected to be fulfilled only in the later months of 2021 amid global shortage.

Việt Nam approved the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, product Comirnaty, for emergency use on June 12, 2021.

Việt Nam has received some 19 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in total, mostly AstraZeneca and Moderna.

The country has administered more than 13.7 million doses of vaccine, with 1,271,973 million people getting two full jabs. — VNS