A resident in Mekong Delta Đồng Tháp Province was vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Six million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines – half from the UK’s AstraZeneca and half from the US’s Pfizer – will arrive in Việt Nam in the third quarter of this year, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

Việt Nam will receive about 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility sometime between late June and early July, said Prof. Dang Duc Anh, Director of the National Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene (NIHE).

The vaccine will be offered to industrial park workers and priority groups detailed in the Government’s Decree 21, including frontline workers, diplomats, customs officers and teachers, among others.

Another shipment of 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, imported by the Ministry of Health from the UK-based pharmaceutical company through the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC), is due to arrive in the country by the end of September.

Meanwhile, Pfizer announced it will ship 3 million coronavirus vaccine to Việt Nam within the third quarter. It, however, also noted that the time of shipment and the number of doses provided to Việt Nam may be subject to change.

Anh said COVAX-supplied vaccines have been distributed to 63 cities and provinces and several units of the ministries of National Defence and Public Security. More than 200,000 doses have been delivered to the pandemic-hit provinces of Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang to give to industrial park workers.

Việt Nam has been accelerating its COVID-19 vaccine vaccination efforts. The country hopes to secure about 150 million doses this year to inoculate at least 70-80 per cent of its population to achieve herd immunity.

So far, the country has received nearly 2.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from four shipments. — VNS