A delivery of 852.480 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses has arrived in Hanoi today. This is a contribution from Germany towards the Vietnamese vaccination campaign. This vaccine donation is being supplied via the COVAX Facility in close cooperation with UNICEF and WHO Viet Nam and the Vietnamese Government.
Vaccines are being unloaded to store in the warehouse of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology - Photo credit: WHO Viet Nam/Huong Le
On the occasion of the arrival of the vaccine delivery German Ambassador to Viet Nam, Dr. Guido Hildner, said:
“I am very happy about this delivery of German vaccines via COVAX. Germany stands with Viet Nam in fighting and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. We can only defeat the pandemic if it is brought under control everywhere. Therefore, Germany and the European Union support the COVAX vaccination campaign for fair and transparent access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.”
“On behalf of the UN Family, we thank the Government and people of Germany for sharing with the Vietnamese people these life-saving vaccine doses sent through the COVAX Facility”, says Dr. Kidong Park, United Nations Resident Coordinator ad interim and the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Viet Nam. “Given the challenging pandemic situation in the country now, we continue to advocate for the Government to prioritize vaccination of health care workers and frontline workers, the elderly, people with co-morbidities and those who are at highest risk of severe diseases or deaths.”
With the delivery of vaccines donated by the Government of Germany, Viet Nam has received 12,578,110 doses of COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility. The COVAX Facility is co-led by WHO, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), GAVI - the Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF as a key delivery partner.
Background information:
Germany co‑founded the Access to COVID‑19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator) last year. As the second largest donor to the ACT Accelerator at present, Germany has provided 2.2 billion euro to date. Most of this support is going to the international vaccine platform COVAX, while some is being used for diagnostic tools and medication to treat COVID‑19. By early August, a total of more than 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and BioNTech vaccines had already been sent to 138 states.
As Germany has sufficient vaccines to cover its needs and is keen to tackle supply shortages in global vaccine production, the German Government is donating vaccines as of now. Germany will provide up to 100 million doses by the end of the year to countries in transition and developing countries. Germany will thus help ensure improved access to vaccines throughout the world.
All in all, Germany has already given around 8 million doses of AstraZeneca to COVAX. In addition to Vietnam, Mauretania, Tajikistan, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Ghana have already received vaccines. These countries were selected by COVAX which knows conditions in the recipient countries best and can therefore distribute the vaccines fairly around the world. The EU is planning to provide at least 200 million vaccine doses until the end of 2021.
COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator which is a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. COVAX is co-led by WHO, Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and UNICEF as delivery partner. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.