Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Of the total, up to 4,000,230 doses ofBioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were donated by the Government of Germany,99,450 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer came from by the Government of Luxembourg,159,120 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer were given by the Government of Portugal and2,012,960 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were donated by the UK, all through the COVAXFacility.
German Ambassador to Vietnam Dr. Guido Hildner said: “Germany has donated vaccines and medical equipment to Vietnam on severaloccasions in 2021. With this new shipment of over 4 million doses ofBioNTech/Pfizer vaccine via COVAX, Germany continues its ongoing support toVietnam to fight and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He noted that in 2022, Germany will continue to showsolidarity with Vietnam in the fight against the effects of the pandemic andprovide further vaccines through the international vaccine platform COVAX.
“We can only defeat the pandemic if it is broughtunder control everywhere,” the ambassador said, stressing that Germany and theEuropean Union support the COVAX vaccine campaign for fair and transparentaccess to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
The recent delivery is the largest German donation ofvaccine doses to Vietnam to date, bringing the total number of vaccinessupplied by Germany to Vietnam to over 10 million doses.
British Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward said: “Thisdonation is part of the UK’s support to Vietnam’s roadmap of opening theeconomy by facilitating its vaccine boosting at a large scale.”
“We are committed to accompanying Vietnam to embrace anew chapter in 2022 when we all can live with COVID-19 with peace andprosperity again,” he pledged.
The UK is currently one of the largest donors to theCOVAX Facility, providing over 548 million GBP to supply vaccines globally,including Vietnam.
This contribution also marks the third bilateralvaccine commitment by the UK Government to Vietnam after the arrival of morethan 727,000 doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in 2021.
In 2022, the UK will continue to strengthen thebilateral health partnership by supporting Vietnam to build a resilient healthsystem through providing vaccines and medical supplies, and by facilitatingknowledge exchange opportunities between the two countries.
Representing the Embassy of Luxembourg in Vietnam, Honorary Consul in Hanoi Tran Hong Quang, stressed that “no one should be leftbehind in the fight against COVID-19”.
A longstanding supporter of global vaccinationefforts, Luxembourg actively engages in multilateral initiatives such as COVAX.In late 2021, Luxembourg doubled its financial contributions to the Gavi COVAXAdvance Market Commitment to 4 million EUR in order to support the procurementof vaccines around the world and mitigate the effects of the two-track pandemic.
Luxembourg’s support to immunisation programmes in Vietnamin fact date back to the 1990’s and the development of a nationwide vaccinecold chain. B Medical System, the leading manufacturer and distributor of coldchain equipment, has since delivered more than 30,000 blood and vaccine coldchain units. An additional 174 refrigerators arrived in June 2021 through Gaviand UNICEF funded projects which will assist with the storage of vaccines,including COVID-19 vaccine.
Representing the Portuguese Embassy in Vietnam, Honorary Consul General Tran Kim Chung said Portugal donated almost 160,000 doses of BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam via the COVAX Facility last year, showing its solidarity with the Southeast Asian country in the fight against the pandemic. Portugal will continue to support Vietnam in health care to cope with challenges caused by the pandemic and ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for Vietnamese people, he added.
Lesley Miller, OIC Representative of UNICEF Vietnamsaid: "On behalf of the UN Family, I would like to thank the Governmentand people of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom for ensuringthis timely, and important contribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam."
The donation of vaccines from generous countries isproving an essential contribution to the equitable distribution of both initialand booster doses to populations around the world, she said.
Nevertheless, still more is needed, and the virus willcontinue its unpredictable path of mutation and waves of complex outbreaks,until all countries achieve strong vaccination coverage.
Vietnam has proven itself highly efficient in the safedelivery of vaccines, ensuring they are utilised effectively.
With thedelivery of vaccines donated by the Government of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugaland the UK, Viet Nam has so far received 51,024,180 doses of COVID-19vaccines via the COVAX Facility./.
Lesley Miller, OIC Representative of UNICEF Vietnamsaid: "On behalf of the UN Family, I would like to thank the Governmentand people of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom for ensuringthis timely, and important contribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam."
The donation of vaccines from generous countries isproving an essential contribution to the equitable distribution of both initialand booster doses to populations around the world, she said.
Nevertheless, still more is needed, and the virus willcontinue its unpredictable path of mutation and waves of complex outbreaks,until all countries achieve strong vaccination coverage.
Vietnam has proven itself highly efficient in the safedelivery of vaccines, ensuring they are utilised effectively.
With thedelivery of vaccines donated by the Government of Germany, Luxembourg, Portugaland the UK, Viet Nam has so far received 51,024,180 doses of COVID-19vaccines via the COVAX Facility./.
VNA
