Vietnam receives 5 mln vaccine doses

Of those, 1.4 million Pfizer vaccine doses arrived in Hanoi from France on Saturday and Sunday.

The French Embassy in Vietnam on Sunday said the doses were sent either through bilateral channels or the Covid-19 vaccine access mechanism Covax. So far, France has aided Vietnam with over two million Covid-19 vaccine doses.

Previously, over two million Pfizer vaccine doses from the U.S. arrived in Vietnam last Friday, raising the number of vaccine doses supported by the U.S. to more than 18 million.

Over 1.54 million AstraZeneca doses came from Japan Thursday, putting Japan's vaccine support to Vietnam at 5.6 million doses.

Earlier this month, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said Vietnam has secured around 195 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, enough to cover vaccination for up to 80 percent of its population within this year. More doses are expected to come next month, he added.

The Pfizer vaccine is being used to vaccinate children aged 12-17 in Vietnam. Around 20 percent of Vietnamese children have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shots.

The country has vaccinated over 69.7 million people with at least one Covid-19 vaccine shots. Around 49 million have received two shots.