Australian Ambassador Robyn Mudie (L) symbolically presents the vaccine to Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong on October 6 (Photo: VNA) The medical equipment included 614 N95 and surgical masks, and 40,800 personal protective suits.
Last month, Australia handed over more than 400,000 doses of the vaccine to the Ministry of Health.
Australia has so far delivered more than 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam as part of its commitment to share 1.5 million doses to support Vietnam’s pandemic fight.
At the ceremony held at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said that Australia will increase its support to Vietnam by assisting it to purchase approximately 3.7 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses. These vaccine doses will be purchased through a procurement agreement with UNICEF and in partnership with Vietnam’s Ministry of Health. This will bring Australia’s contribution of vaccine doses to Vietnam to approximately 5.2 million.
Australia’s commitment to support COVID-19 vaccine access in Vietnam is now worth 60 million AUD.
“As a close friend and partner Australia is committed to supporting Vietnam in its fight against COVID,” the Ambassador said.
In addition to Australia’s support for vaccine delivery in Vietnam, Australia is working in partnership with UNICEF to support cold chain upgrades, training for healthcare workers, communications, and planning and implementation of the vaccine rollout in remote provinces in Vietnam.
Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong thanked the Australian Government and people of the help in the COVID-19 fight. He pledged to promptly distribute the vaccines and medical equipment to medical facilities and localities./.
VNA
