Embassy officials and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Hungary arrived at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International airport to witness the shipment to Việt Nam. — VNA/VNS  Photo

HÀ NỘI — 560,000 doses of COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccines shared by three European countries to Việt Nam have arrived in Hà Nội today.

The flight, conducted by the national carrier Vietnam Airlines with its Airbus A350 craft, departed from Hungary’s capital city of Budapest late Wednesday (local time) and landed at Nội Bài International Airport Thursday afternoon.

The vaccine batch comprises of 100,000 doses donated by the Government of Slovakia, 60,000 doses gifted by the Government of Croatia, and 400,000 doses that the Government of Hungary has agreed to transfer to Việt Nam under a non-profit mechanism.

The decisions by these governments to share their vaccine supplies with Việt Nam showcases friendship and spirit of mutual assistance during hardship, and solidarity to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

The flight also brings to Việt Nam 12.5 tonnes of medical supplies worth US$380,000, including 2 million syringes, 19,000 antigen rapid test kits, 300,000 N95 masks, and 25,000 medical-grade masks donated by the Vietnamese community in Hungary to aid the country's pandemic response.

In the past weeks, the Vietnamese Embassy in Hungary, the Trade Office of Việt Nam in Hungary, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Slovakia have closely coordinated with domestic agencies, as well as diplomatic, health, and logistics businesses of Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia to negotiate, appraise quality, complete receipt and import documents along with transport and customs procedures for the cargo.

Vaccines and medical supplies need strict storage requirements, so the whole process of reception and transport has been carried out urgently in line with the requirements so that the quality is not compromised when they arrive in Việt Nam. — VNS