Vietnam on Wednesday received its first batch of 117,000 doses of
COVID-19 vaccines from South Korea. The plans to start inoculation in March. The vaccines that arrived at Ho Chi Minh City would be used to inoculate more than 50,000 people who are viewed at high risk by the government. Vietnam's Vaccine Joint Stock Co. has ordered a total of 30 million doses from AstraZeneca. Vaccine Joint Stock Co. is a company set up by the government to handle the import of vaccines and their distribution. Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong met the consignment of vaccines, which was flown in from Seoul. This consignment will be stored at storage units in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang.
Vietnam government has said the country would vaccinate health workers, diplomats and military personnel first. The nation with a population of 98 million will receive half of the 60 million vaccine doses this year from the WHO-led COVAX scheme.
And though, the nation has faced a new wave of infections recently, its government has been lauded for containing the virus for months with the help of mass testing and strict quarantining. The country has so far recorded 2,403 infections since the virus first broke out in Vietnam last year and 35 deaths.
