The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Tân Sơn Nhất Airport. VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Hằng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s COVID-19 vaccination programme will be conducted in line with the Government’s resolution, ensuring equal access to the vaccines, heard a meeting between the Ministry of Health and WHO and UNICEF representatives.

The meeting took place after the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, studied and produced by AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company and the UK’s Oxford University, arrived in Việt Nam on Wednesday.

Health minister Nguyễn Thanh Long expressed his thanks for the efforts by the COVAX Facility programme to help Việt Nam access the vaccines.

Việt Nam wishes to get quality vaccines at suitable prices and matching the country’s storage capacity, he said, pledging his ministry will promptly deal with procedure-related issues to facilitate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines under the programme.

The ministry has assigned agencies to put forth communication plans for the vaccination.

Representatives from international organisations agreed on the need to mobilise the involvement of different economic sectors in the storage of certain vaccines like Pfizer that must be kept at minus 70 degree Celsius and can be refrigerated for only five days.

This will be the biggest vaccination campaign in Việt Nam so far, with more than 100 million doses, Long said, adding that the ministry has charted scenarios and mobilised the participation of all units both and outside the medical sector for the campaign.

The participants also stressed the significance of supervising and assessing the body’s reactions to the vaccine.

A plane carrying the first batch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine landed at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport, HCM City, on Wednesday.

Deputy health minister Trương Quốc Cường highlighted the significance of the vaccine delivery at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is erupting in Hải Dương, Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh provinces.

Results from clinical trials showed 22 days after the first shot, the AstraZeneca vaccine could fully protect people from serious illness, hospitalisation and death caused by the novel coronavirus. Within 90 days, the vaccine’s potency could reach 76 per cent. VNS