1.7 mln AstraZeneca vaccine doses to arrive Sunday

The doses, provided through global vaccine access mechanism Covax, would be distributed to all localities to battle Covid-19.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the ministry is still looking for more Covid-19 vaccine sources to cover enough of its population.

Vietnam began its own Covid-19 inoculation program in March using a vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, secured either through contracts or Covax. So far, over 942,000 people in 62 cities and provinces, or 1 percent of the country's population, have been inoculated, mainly frontline workers of the Covid-19 fight.

Earlier this month, minister Long said a review of over 600,000 people who had been vaccinated showed 16 percent had normal reactions after vaccination, which disappeared over the next 24 hours. But Vietnam on May 7 recorded its first death following Covid-19 vaccination: a 35-year-old female medic at a hospital in An Giang who died due to "anaphylaxis induced by a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug allergy," according a professional council of the southern province's health department.

Vietnam's ongoing Covid-19 wave has seen 665 community cases recorded in 26 cities and provinces since late last month.