Wojciech Gerwel, Polish Ambassador to Việt Nam, and Deputy Health Minister Phạm Xuân Tuyên at the reception ceremony in Hà Nội on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Health Ministry held a symbolic reception in Hà Nội on Friday to celebrate the arrival of two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by Poland and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

Around 887,000 vaccines arrived from Poland on Thursday, in addition to their previous donation of 501,600 doses. Meanwhile, 1.1 million vaccines arrived from the RoK on Wednesday.

They are all currently being stored at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hà Nội, from where they will be distributed across the nation.

Wojciech Gerwel, Polish Ambassador to Việt Nam, said the Government and people of Poland were grateful for the friendship and support from the Vietnamese community in Poland in previous outbreaks in the country.

This was one of the main motivations for Poland’s latest assistance for Việt Nam, he said.

For his part, Park Noh-Wan, the RoK Ambassador to Việt Nam, said that the RoK might be able to provide a further 100,000 doses to Việt Nam in the future.

Park Noh-Wan, the RoK Ambassador to Việt Nam, and Deputy Health Minister Phạm Xuyên Tuyên at the reception ceremony in Hà Nội on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Đỗ Xuân Tuyên expressed the gratitude of the Vietnamese Government and people for the donations of vaccines and medical supplies.

Việt Nam hopes to continue to receive support and assistance from Poland and RoK, he said.

To date, Việt Nam has received 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Nearly 60 million doses have been administered.

57 per cent of the population aged 18 and above have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

“Việt Nam is inoculating the population quickly, but we are still trying to get access to more vaccine supplies to accelerate the vaccine coverage and reaching herd immunity. Therefore, the vaccine donation from RoK and Poland hold significant meaning to the Government and people of Việt Nam in this wave of infections,” the health official told the diplomats.

The health ministry is committed to distributing the vaccines to localities and units in accordance with needs in an effective, suitable manner, according to Tuyên. — VNS