Vaccine batches at VNVC's cold storage. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Two shipments bringing a total of 1.4 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, HCM City late Thursday night.

The two batches – 524,300 and 918,000 doses – are part of the deal for 30 million doses that the Việt Nam Vaccine Company (VNVC) has with AstraZeneca, with the support of the health ministry.

The vaccines have been transported to VNVC cold storage for quality control before handover to the health ministry for allocation.

This is the first time AstraZeneca has shipped two separate batches to Việt Nam in a single day, making it the biggest delivery out of the order to date.

With this shipment, 27.3 per cent of the contract – 8.2 million doses – has been fulfilled.

Việt Nam to date has received about 28 million doses from various sources, mostly AstraZeneca with 17 million doses (from VNVC, bilateral donations and COVAX), followed by five million doses of Moderna (US donation).

Nitin Kapoor, CEO of AstraZeneca Việt Nam said the accelerated delivery demonstrates AstraZeneca’s commitment in supporting Việt Nam’s health sector in fighting the pandemic, as AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said during the phone conversation with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính last week.

Nitin Kapoor also said that following the talk, Vietnamese ambassador to the UK Nguyễn Hoàng Long has visited and had a working session with AstraZeneca at its headquarters in London.

The two have had in-depth discussion on potential cooperation areas to boost healthcare sector in both countries.

To date, Việt Nam has administered nearly 19 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. — VNS