Russia has donated 1,000 doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam, marking the first time the vaccine was being delivered to the South-East Asian nation, state media said on Tuesday.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday for a two-day visit, bringing with him the donated Sputnik V COVID-19 jabs a gift proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Feb. 26, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use amid a battle to contain a resurgence of the Coronavirus, a spread that has now been contained.
In August 2020, Vietnam registered to purchase between 50 and 150 million doses of the Russia-made vaccine, although it remains unclear exactly how many doses the country intended to buy.
The South-East Asian nation said it expected to receive at least 60 million vaccine doses in 2021, 30 million of which would be provided through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX equality mechanism.
Vietnam received its first COVID-19 vaccines in late February, when 117,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, approved for use in the country in early January, arrived at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport.
Vietnam began offering COVID-19 vaccinations in March, with front-line health workers and vulnerable citizens first on the list.
To date, Vietnam has officially recorded 2,557 Coronavirus cases and 35 deaths.
dpa/NAN
