PM asks AstraZeneca to speed up vaccine delivery

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged AstraZeneca to accelerate contracted vaccine delivery to Viet Nam, during his phone conversation with the company’s CEO Pascal Soriot on Thursday.

Under a contract signed between Viet Nam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) and AstraZeneca, the latter will provide 30 million doses to Viet Nam.

To date, 5.5 million doses been delivered to Viet Nam, accounting for 20 percent of the deal. With these, Viet Nam has received a total of some 19 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various sources.

Pham also asked AstraZeneca to embark on other deals on vaccines for children, high-risk groups and those with underlying diseases.

AstraZeneca CEO Soriot promised to deliver the ordered vaccines to Viet Nam on schedule and to increase vaccine supplies to Viet Nam in August.

This is the second time PM Pham had working sessions with AstraZeneca leaders to expedite vaccine access as Viet Nam is in desperate need of securing enough vaccines for its vaccine strategy.