Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

This is the fifth COVID-19 vaccine to be greenlighted by the Southeast Asian country, aside from the AstraZeneca vaccine, Russia's Sputnik V, China's Sinopharm vaccine, and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

According to the health ministry, importers will have to coordinate with the Administration of Science Technology and Training in organizing the evaluation of vaccine safety and effectiveness, as well as cooperate with distributors in pharmacovigilance.

They will also need to coordinate with the Ministry of Health in vaccine assessment and risk management during circulation in the country.

The health ministry added that a unit had signed a contract with Moderna to import five million vaccine shots into Vietnam.

Vietnam set a target of securing 150 million vaccine doses and vaccinating two-thirds of its population of about 98 million people this year.

The Southeast Asian nation has received nearly four million AstraZeneca shots from the COVAX scheme, direct purchase via a local company, and Japan, in addition to 2,000 Sputnik V jabs donated by Russia and 500,000 Sinopharm doses gifted by China in the year to date.

Approximately 3.5 million doses have been administered since the country rolled out inoculation on March 8, with nearly 173,000 people having completed the two-dose regimen.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Vietnam has recorded 16,238 COVID-19 cases, with 6,519 recoveries and 78 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health statistics.

The country has logged 12,882 local infections in 48 provinces and cities since a new outbreak began on April 27.

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