Australia pledges another 2.6 mln vaccine doses

By Viet Tuan   November 9, 2021 | 05:26 pm PT
Australia pledges another 2.6 mln vaccine doses
A medic prepares a Covid-19 vaccine shot in Hanoi, September 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne told PM Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi Tuesday that Australia would give Vietnam another 2.6 million Covid-19 vaccine does.

The latest pledge takes Australian assistance to 7.8 million in total.

Chinh thanked the Australian government for its commitment to support Vietnam’s Covid-19 fight with vaccines and medical equipment.

He expressed his wish that Australia continues to assist Vietnam with disease prevention, improving medical capacity, respond better to climate change and train high-quality human resources.

The Vietnamese PM noted that bilateral cooperation has been developing well in recent years.

Two-way trade turnover in the first nine months of the year grew to $9.1 billion, up more than 50 percent over the same period last year, despite difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Australia continues to maintain high official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, reaching AUD78.9 million ($58.3 million) in 2021-2022.

Payne affirmed that Australia considers Vietnam a priority for cooperation in many fields including infrastructure, agriculture, poverty reduction and climate change response.

She expressed confidence that Vietnam will gradually achieve the goal of adapting and living safely with Covid-19.

Also Tuesday, Vietnam’s Health Ministry received 1,910 vaccine storage refrigerators, five million syringes and 50,000 cooler boxes donated by the Australian government in collaboration with the UNICEF.

So far, 30.3 million of the country's 96 million population have been fully vaccinated with two doses.

 
 
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