Vietnam urgently imports 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine

204,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be imported to battle a fresh wave of the coronavirus in Vietnam. (Photo: AFP)

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by SK Bioscience of the Republic of Korea, will be imported to meet the urgent need of providing the local population with greater protection against the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic inoculation on February 1, with the vaccine licensed for one-year circulation.

According to the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV), AstraZeneca Vietnam Co., Ltd. will be responsible for both the origin and quality of imported vaccines. It must ensure the safe, effective, and appropriate use of the vaccine, whilst the firm must also strictly comply with current regulations on imports, exports, and the distribution of drugs and relevant pharmaceutical regulations.

The initial import of 204,000 doses is set to be the first batch of a total of 30 million doses of the vaccine which the country has ordered from AstraZeneca. The vaccine itself has been developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University.

Moreover, COVAX, a global mechanism for developing, manufacturing, and procuring COVID-19 vaccines, will also provide 4.9 million doses to Vietnam as part of efforts to fight the epidemic.