The Coteccons Group is working with the Vietnam Vaccine Joint-Stock Company to register in advance to buy vaccines for 8,000 staff and their families of Coteccons and Unicons, a member of the Coteccons Group. (Photo courtesy of Coteccons Group) The Ministry of Health has approved the import of 30 million dosesof the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to obtainsuch authorisation in the country.
Under the ministry’s plan, the Drug Administration of Vietnam will import thefirst 200,400 doses of the vaccine for emergency use on February 28.
Following the ministry’s approval, Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Quang Ninh and BaRia-Vung Tau provinces asked for approval from the Governmentand Ministry of Health to buy vaccines for their localities.
Hai Phong authorities expect that it will be one of first localities inthe country to buy the vaccine. It aims to provide free vaccinations tomore than 2 million people.
Quang Ninh province will allocate 500 billion VND (21 million USD) to buy thevaccine and give priority to frontline workers.
Ba Ria – Vung Tau province and Hanoi authorities said they would usefunds from their budget and call on sponsors to buy vaccines toprovide free vaccinations to local residents.
CotecconsGroup has been working with the Vietnam Vaccine Joint-StockCompany to register in advance to buy vaccines for 8,000 staff andtheir families of Coteccons and Unicons, a member of the CotecconsGroup.
Tran Thi Lieu Vinh, human resources director at Coteccons, said: “Freevaccination to staff not only helps prevent transmission but also makes usfeel more confident in work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Pham Thai Son, director of the Communications and Enrollment Centre at the HCMCity University of Food Industry, told VietnamNews that the university plans to buy 25,000 doses of thevaccines to provide to its lecturers and students.
According to AstraZeneca Vietnam, the primary analysis of Phase IIIclinical trials from the UK, Brazil and South Africa have confirmedthat it is safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, with no severecases and no hospitalisations more than 22 days after the first dose.
Vietnam’s locally made COVID-19 vaccine, Nano Covax, is in the secondphase of human trials following the first phase results, whichshowed that the vaccine is safe and 90 percent effective, accordingto the National Council for Ethics in Biomedical Research.
Besides Hanoi, the People’s Committee in the Mekong Delta province of Long Anon February 21 said that Nano Covax could start its second phasehuman trial in the province on February 26, one month earlier thanscheduled.
The second phase trials in Hanoi and Long An will reduce the timeneeded to three months instead of the previously scheduledsix months.
The number of registered volunteers in the second phase is nearly 1,000.The phase is expected to last until the end of March and the results willbe reported in April.
The third phase of human trials is expected to start in May.
The other two locally made COVID-19 vaccines are in the first phase ofhuman trials./.
VNA
