Vietnam to receive a million Covid vaccine doses by July

Dang Duc Anh, director of the Institute, said the doses may come either at the end of June or early July, with the government planning to allow more groups to be vaccinated like workers in industrial parks.

Around two million vaccine doses by AstraZeneca may arrive in Vietnam within the third quarter, along with three million doses by Pfizer. However, that timeline may change in future, Anh said.

Vietnam has received around three million Covid-19 vaccine doses so far, with global vaccine access mechanism Covax providing 2.5 million, all produced by AstraZeneca.

The national Covid-19 vaccination program has inoculated over 1.5 million people with the AstraZeneca vaccine, mainly frontline workers of the Covid-19 fight. Over 59,000 people have received two shots.

The country is expected to receive over 120 million doses within this year, either through contracts or Covax. It seeks around 150 million doses in total to cover 70 percent of its population.

Seven weeks into Vietnam's new coronavirus wave, the nation has recorded 7,787 local Covid-19 cases in 40 cities and provinces.

Bac Giang and Bac Ninh continued to lead in the number of infections, with 4,263 and 1,394 cases, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with 923.