COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine (Photo: AFP/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Australia will share 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with Vietnam by the end of 2021, announced Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja on July 14.
Earlier, Australia vowed a package of 40 million AUD (nearly 30 million USD) of COVID-19 vaccine support for Vietnam, which includes funding for further doses to be procured through UNICEF, vaccine delivery support and technical advice.
The aid is part of Australia’s commitment to sharing at least 20 million doses of vaccines to close neighbours in Indo-Pacific until mid-2022, so as to support medical security and economic recovery in the region.
Australia’s contribution worth 130 million AUD to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility also has created favourable conditions for COVID-19 vaccine access in the region.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh thanked the Australian Government for pledging to provide Vietnam with 40 million AUD and 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca to aid its COVID-19 fight, during a reception for visiting Australian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan in Hanoi on July 13.
Minh hoped for Australia’s continued support for COVAX facility and for poor and developing countries to access COVID-19 vaccine supply./.
