As many as 70 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Vietnam when the country was hit by the pandemic, the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health announced on Friday.

The vaccine, called Vaxzevria, was among 14 COVID-19 jabs authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The vaccine was approved for use in Europe by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in late January 2021.

Vaxzevria is currently one of the most widely used vaccines in the world, with more than 170 countries approving it for emergency use.

Over two billion Vaxzevria doses have been administered globally.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which the drugmaker developed in partnership with the University of Oxford, was authorized for use in Vietnam on February 1, 2021, as a way to boost the fight against COVID-19, according to the ministry.

This was the first jab against COVID-19 to be imported into Vietnam to start a national vaccination drive at the height of the pandemic.

The vaccination process was conducted carefully, with pre-inoculation screening, injection, and reaction monitoring steps, to ensure the safety of residents.

Requirements on subjects eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine dose and the number of shots were kept updated frequently in accordance with the instructions from the WHO.

Until now, Vietnam has given over 266 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to people aged from five. Among them were 70 million doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for the first shots and boosters on adults. 

AstraZeneca’s vaccine was repeatedly proven safe and effective, helping reduce the deaths caused by COVID-19.

Several global researches showed that 74 percent of people jabbed with a Vaxzevria shot developed some side effects, while no people inoculated with the vaccine were in danger.

The WHO declared AstraZeneca’s vaccine safe and effective to all people aged 18 or older.

Some reports made in the UK and Europe indicated that the syndrome of thrombocytopenia (a low platelet count) and venous thrombosis (blood clot) was a rare side effect of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

As estimated, one out of 100,000 adults vaccinated with the jab suffered unusual blood clots with low blood platelets within 21 days after their vaccinations.

Another research showed that the number of people experiencing the rare type of blood clot after their inoculation was much lower than that of people suffering the syndrome after being infected by the novel coronavirus.

Given the low risk of unusual blood clots and low blood platelet counts, the WHO and EMA emphasized the benefit from Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s vaccine and its efficacy against COVID-19.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said that the syndrome related to AstraZeneca’s vaccine is a rare side effect and appears in a short time during the post-vaccination period.

Vietnam has zero doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at present and already stopped using the jab in July last year, a representative of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the company announced its worldwide withdrawal of the vaccine a few days ago.

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