Australia hands Vietnam 7.2 mln Covid vaccine doses for children

The first delivery arrived on April 8, and the remaining doses were delivered throughout April. The final delivery of 772,000 doses arrived on May 7, a press release by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam said Tuesday.

These new vaccine doses build on the 7.8 million doses that Australia has already provided to Vietnam for its adult population.

Australia is also delivering a comprehensive package of support to bolster Vietnam's Covid vaccine rollout. Under this package, Australia is working in partnership with UNICEF to support cold chain upgrades, training for healthcare workers, production of communications materials, and planning and implementation of the vaccine rollout in remote provinces across Vietnam.

Australia is contributing 215 million Australian dollars (US$149.5 million) to the Covax Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to support equitable global access to safe and effective Covid vaccines.

Through Covax, over 1.2 billion doses have been delivered to 86 developing countries around the world to date, including over 68 million doses to Vietnam.