Vietnam to buy 40 million doses of Russian Covid-19 vaccine

By Viet Tuan July 12, 2021 | 04:47 am PT

A medical specialist holds a vial of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus in a department store in Moscow, Russia, January 18, 2021. Photo by Reuters.

The Health Ministry received permission Monday to let the T&T Group negotiate with Russian Direct Investment Fund the purchase of 40 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.

The group will buy the vaccines with legally mobilized funds, not from the state budget or Vietnam's Covid-19 vaccine fund.

The ministry had approved Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for use in emergencies at the end of March.

Sputnik V vaccine is prepared in the form of an injectable solution manufactured and packaged by the Russian company Generium. Each 3 ml vial contains five doses. Sputnik V is based on vector technology, using a harmless virus that introduces the Covid-19 protein into human cells, helping stimulate the immune system response.

According to the Ministry of Health, about 105 million doses from various sources have been committed for use in Vietnam, where the vaccination campaign using the AstraZeneca vaccine began in March.

Around four million of the country’s 96 million people have got shots, with 271,409 of them getting both doses. It targets vaccinating 70 percent of the population by April 2022.

Vietnam has so far approved the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, China’s Sinopharm, the one made by Pfizer in the U.S. and BioNTech in Germany, British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and U.S.'s Moderna.