Germany to gift Vietnam 2.5 mln Covid vaccine doses

The German government on Friday pledged to gift Vietnam 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the latter’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Germany earlier announced gifts of 75 ventilators, 15 medical monitors, and 20,000 oxygen meters for Vietnam, its strategic partner since October 2011.

Amid the complex development of the pandemic, the Vietnamese government prioritizes approaching multiple sources of vaccines to bring Covid under control.

To date, Germany has been the biggest vaccine donor among EU member nations to Vietnam.

Earlier, European nations including the U.K., Poland, and the Czech Republic supplied Covid vaccines to Vietnam.

Vietnamese government on Saturday also asked for more vaccine support from Russia.

Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang made the request at his reception for Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Yurievich Krivoruchko.

Giang affirmed Vietnam attached great importance to developing a comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, which is one of the priorities in its diplomatic policy.

Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Yurievich Krivoruchko (L) meets with Vietnamese National Defense Minister Phan Van Giang in Hanoi, September 4, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Giang hoped Russia would continue to offer vaccine assistance to Vietnam amid the complicated pandemic situation.

Last March, Russia gifted Vietnam with 1,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses.

So far, Vietnam has received over 29 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, including around 19.1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses. The country has vaccinated more than 20 million people with at least one shot, with around three million people having been double-vaccinated.

It aims to secure 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to cover 70 percent of its 96 million population by next year.