South Korea donates 1.1 mln Covid vaccine doses

By Viet Tuan   October 12, 2021 | 05:31 am PT
South Korea donates 1.1 mln Covid vaccine doses
A man receives a Covid-19 vaccine shot in Hanoi, September 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
1.1 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses gifted by South Korea are expected to arrive in Vietnam Wednesday.

This is South Korea's first and largest bilateral vaccine support for partners in the context of a global shortage of vaccines, South Korean ambassador Park Noh Wan told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a Tuesday meeting.

The ambassador said South Korea will continue its medical support, including vaccines, for Vietnam in the coming time.

Vietnam is an important partner of South Korea, especially in economics, investment and trade, he said.

Despite the pandemic, the two-way trade turnover between the countries increased by 18 percent year-on-year in the first nine months, and South Korea’s fresh investments in Vietnam increased by 24 percent against the same period last year.

PM Chinh said Vietnam was promoting vaccine diplomacy to speed up its vaccination campaign to cover the entire population, create a foundation to safely respond to the pandemic, and at the same time, restore production and business to bring socio-economic activities back to normal soon.

He said that he hoped South Korea will continue its support for Vietnam in fighting the pandemic, especially in vaccines and Covid-19 drugs, as well as in developing the pharmaceutical industry and improving local medical capacity.

He noted that the two countries were working on resuming commercial flights soon and on recognizing each other's vaccine passports to normalize economic activities, contributing to stabilizing the supply chain.

At a meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 21, his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in had pledged to provide at least one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam.

Over 55.2 million people in Vietnam have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot to date and more than 16 million people have been fully vaccinated.

 
 
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