Vietnam’s COVID-19 Vaccine Fund has so far disbursed VND4,506 billion (US$198 million) to vaccine procurement, development, and testing in the country, the fund management announced on Tuesday.

As of 5:00 pm on Tuesday, the fund had accrued VND8,692 billion ($382 million), including VND13.5 billion ($583,000) from bank interest, using the donations from 549,698 benefactors, its management board stated. 

Expenditure from the fund has reached VND4,506 billion ($198 million) million, with VND 4,498 billion ($197.6 million) earmarked for vaccine purchases, while VND8.8 billion ($386,662) is set aside for domestic vaccine trials.. 

The fund is left with VND4,185 billion ($211.4 million), while it is also waiting for VND36 billion ($1.58 million) of promised donations from 13 benefactors to arrive. 

Based on the Ministry of Health's direction, the fund management has selected the optimal fixed-term deposit plans via bidding proposals from commercial banks, said Ho Duc Phoc, Minister of Finance, during a discussion with Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper.

Interest from the deposit would be directed back to the fund and funneled into vaccine purchase and manufacturing projects, he added.

The country set a target to secure 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to vaccinate two-thirds of its 98-million population, but it has so far got only over 50 million shots of various vaccines from different sources, including COVAX Facility, contractual purchases, and donations.

To date, the health ministry has approved eight COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in Vietnam, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V, Sinopharm, Hayat-Vax, and Abdala.

Meanwhile, Nano Covax, one of the four vaccines being developed domestically, is going through steps to be licensed for emergency use as the first made-in-Vietnam coronavirus jab after several successful trials that began in December 2020.

Health workers have administered around 35 million vaccine doses since inoculation was rolled out on March 8. Nearly 6.8 million people have been fully vaccinated.

Since the pandemic hit Vietnam in early 2020, the country has registered 707,436 COVID-19 cases, including 475,743 recoveries and 17,545 deaths.

The coronavirus has so far spread to 62 of the country’s 63 cities and provinces, except Cao Bang Province in the northern region.

Ho Chi Minh City has become the most affected by the pandemic with 348,740 infections and 13,628 fatalities, the ministry’s data shows.

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