(From left) German Ambassador to Việt Nam Guido Hildner, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Việt Nam Rana Flowers, Representative of World Health Organisation (WHO) in Việt Nam Satoko Otsu, Representative of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Nguyễn Công Luật at the handover ceremony of vaccine donation in Hà Nội on Tuesday. — Photo courtesy of the Germany Embassy in Hà Nội.

HÀ NỘI — The Germany Embassy in Hà Nội on Tuesday announced a batch of 2.558 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the capital city last week and were handed over to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology this morning.

The shots were made available through the global vaccine sharing initiative COVAX Facility.

On the occasion of the handover, the German Ambassador to Việt Nam, Dr. Guido Hildner, said that with this donation, Germany reaffirmed its solidarity with Việt Nam in fighting and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The current situation shows that the pandemic is far from being defeated,” he said, adding that Germany will continue to support Việt Nam with further vaccine supplies through the COVAX International Vaccine Platform.

Germany has already donated numerous vaccines and pieces of medical equipment to Việt Nam this year.

Germany will also support Viet Nam with additional vaccine doses, bringing the total number of vaccines donated by Germany to Việt Nam to over 10 million doses, he said.

“We are proud to further support Việt Nam’s vaccination campaign with these donations and to actively demonstrate our deepened cooperation on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between Germany and Việt Nam,” the German diplomat remarked.

Rana Flowers, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Việt Nam and UNICEF Representative in Việt Nam, affirmed that vaccines from COVAX are distributed equitably to each region of Việt Nam as well as around the world.

With the latest shipment from Germany, Việt Nam has received 45,197,910 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from COVAX.

Việt Nam as of Tuesday has administered 133.7 million COVID-19 vaccine shots, with 75 million people receiving at least one dose of vaccine and 57 million are fully vaccinated.

Recently, the health ministry has allowed Moderna to be used as the second dose for those who have initially received Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines as first dose. — VNS