Banks donate big to fund COVID-19 vaccine procurement hinh anh 1A worker at an industrial park in Hai Phong city has sample taken for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) on May 26 donated a total of 38 billion VND (nearly 1.65 million USD) to finance the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines in 10 cities and provinces.

Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City received 5 billion VND each while Da Nang, Vinh Phuc, Dien Bien, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, and Lang Son were each given 3 billion VND.

Vietcombank was the most recent to fund vaccine procurement in response to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s call for domestic lenders to contribute resources to the COVID-19 fight.

It joined three other banks - BIDV, Vietinbank and Agribank - in donating a combined 100 billion VND to help the country purchase more vaccines.

Additionally, HDbank, the Sovico Group, and SHB have contributed a total of 75 billion VND to the COVID-19 vaccine fund, while the T&T Group has donated one million doses of vaccine.

The SBV has raised some 500 billion VND to help the country’s COVID-19 relief efforts, according to Governor Nguyen Thi Hong.

The fourth batch of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 25, bringing the total number of doses delivered to Vietnam by the UK-based pharmaceutical firm to 2.9 million.

By the end of 2021, Vietnam will have received about 110 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, including 38.9 million under the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX), 30 million from AstraZeneca, and 31 million from Pfizer/BioNTech.

However, the ministry targeted having enough 150 million doses to inoculate 75 percent of the Vietnamese population as directed by the Politburo and the Government.

As of May 25, the country had administered over 1.03 million shots, primarily to frontline workers./.
VNA