A batch of 288,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday night, raising the total number of jabs the country has received to nearly 2.9 million.

The doses are currently in cold storage at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

This batch is a portion of the 30 million doses purchased by Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC) from AstraZeneca in a deal inked in November 2020.

Vietnam has so far received nearly 2.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, all of which were manufactured by AstraZeneca.

On February 24, the first shipment from the deal – 117,600 jabs – arrived in the country.

A batch of 811,200 shots supplied by COVAX, a global initiative that brings together governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines reach those in the greatest need, was delivered on April 1.

An additional 1,682,400 doses from this initiative arrived in Vietnam on May 16.

COVAX provided the vaccine shots for free.

Vietnam has managed to secure the commitment of approximately 110 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from producers and partners, including 38.9 million free doses from COVAX, 30 million already bought from AstraZeneca, 31 million to be purchased from Pfizer/BioNTech, and 10 million the Ministry of Health has registered to purchase through the initiative under a cost-sharing mechanism.

The country has administered 1,034,867 coronavirus vaccine shots to medical staff and other frontline workers since it began mass inoculation on March 8.

A total of 28,522 people have been given a full two-dose course.

As of Thursday morning, Vietnam has documented 6,111 COVID-19 cases, with 2,853 recoveries and 45 deaths.

The country has recorded 3,052 local infections in 30 provinces and cities since April 27.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!