The flight carrying this first batch of Covid-19 vaccines landed at Tan Son Nhat airport at 10:45 a.m. on February 24.
A representative of Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC), the importer, said that this shipment is part of the contract signed last November between AstraZeneca and VNVC.
Present at Tan Son Nhat airport the same morning, Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong said that this first batch of vaccines was brought to Vietnam with the direction of the Government, the National Steering Committee to fight epidemics, and the efforts of the Ministry of Health.
`The next batch of vaccines will arrive as soon as possible,` Deputy Minister Cuong said.
The first Covid-19 vaccine packages arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport on the morning of February 24, and were disinfected after leaving the plane.
VNVC orders 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in 2021. These vaccines are delivered in several batches.
The Ministry of Health yesterday announced 11 groups of people to be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine first, according to the priority of epidemic situations and in the context of current limited vaccine resources.
After disinfection, the special shipment was transported out of the airport to cold storage on the morning of February 24.
VNVC is the first company to have a Covid-19 vaccine and is the only unit chosen by AstraZeneca to distribute the vaccine in large quantities in Vietnam.
The batch of vaccines arriving today is among the 30 million doses that Vietnam ordered.
Previously, on February 1, the Ministry of Health approved AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency epidemic prevention and control.
Deep underground cold storage preserves Covid-19 vaccines at a VNVC center in Ho Chi Minh City.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is called ChAdOx, researched and developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University.
The vaccine’s protective effectiveness ranges from 62-90%, depending on the dose.
ChAdOx is one of the vaccine candidates that showed positive results in large-scale phase 3 trials.
Vaccine
The first batch of Covid-19 vaccines arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport on the morning of February 24.