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The first batch including 117,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Vietnam on February 24. Photo: Vnexpress

The National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control reported the receiving schedule and the number of doses to the Government at a meeting on February 24 afternoon.

The first batch including 117,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Vietnam on February 24. This amount of vaccine will be given to frontline workers against Covid-19, members of the steering committee on Covid-19 prevention and control at all levels, those working at quarantine facilities, those participating in contact tracing, epidemiological investigations.

The second batch including 1.5 million doses is expected to arrive in the first and second quarters. 1.2 million doses of which are supplied by Covax and 363,000 by AstraZeneca. Frontline workers against Covid-19, diplomatic personnel, customs and immigration officers, military forces will receive the vaccines.

The third batch consisting of 8.2 million doses which Vietnam will purchase from AstraZeneca. It is expected to arrive in the second quarter. The military forces yet to be vaccinated from the second batch, police force, teachers, people aged 80 and above will be inoculated.

The fourth batch including 10.9 million doses from Covax (3.6 million) and AstraZeneca (7.32 million) is scheduled to arrive in the third quarter. People aged 80 and above yet to be vaccinated from the third batch, those working in essential services, and those with chronic diseases will get the vaccines.

The fifth batch including 14.4 million doses from AstraZeneca, is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022. Those with chronic diseases yet to be vaccinated from the fourth batch will be administered.

The sixth batch including 25.2 million doses provided by Covax, is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022. Those with chronic diseases yet to be vaccinated from the third, fourth and fifth batches along with people aged between 65 and 80 will be injected.

The final batch comprising 90.5 million doses from both foreign and domestic producers would arrive between the fourth quarter and second quarter of 2022. They would be administered to those aged between 65 and 80 who have not been vaccinated in the sixth batch and those aged 18 and above not included in the aforementioned priority list.

Residents in pandemic-hit localities should be given first priority to receive vaccines, according to the Steering Committee.

A health worker opens a box containing the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in France. Photo: AFP.

Four indigenous vaccines are under development by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1, and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals.

Nanocovax, produced by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, has finished its first phase of human trials and is expected to begin the second one this month. Covivac of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals is expected to start human trials this month as well.

A fresh outbreak has gripped Vietnam since the SARS-CoV-2 virus recurred in late January 2021. As many as 820 new cases have been detected in 13 cities and provinces across the country, with 636 cases confirmed in Hai Duong alone, the epicenter of the fresh outbreak.

So far, Vietnam has recorded 2,412 Covid-19 cases, with 569 still active.

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