Vietnam receives over 250,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Czech Republic

Chargé d'Affaires of the Czech Embassy in Ha Noi Lukas Musil handed over the doses to Vietnamese Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong.

The vaccines were transported by UPS, an American multinational shipping and supply chain management company to Ha Noi-based Noi Bai international airport on August 27.  

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Lukas Musil said the vaccine support reflects the special ties fostered between the nations over many years.

"We have always supported each other. At the time when Czech was making efforts to fight the pandemic last year, the Vietnamese community in Czech in different ways supported the anti-pandemic fight," said Mr. Lukas Musil.

The diplomat affirmed Vietnam is a priority in the Czech Republic's vaccine assistance policy, saying that the Czech Republic is always willing to aid Vietnam in COVID-19 prevention and control.

He highlighted the mutual support between the two countries, recalling the Vietnamese expat community's active support for the Czech Republic's response to the pandemic last year.

Deputy Minister of Health Truong extended sincere thanks to the Government and people of the Czech Republic for the valuable gifts during this hard time and pledged to ensure the timely distribution and suitable use of the vaccines.

Earlier, during a call with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced his country would donate 250,000 vaccine doses to and share some other 500,000 doses with Vietnam.

To date, Vietnam has  received some 27 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including over three million doses of Pfizer, 17 million doses of AstraZeneca, more than five million doses of Moderna, 12,000 doses of Sputnik-V, and 2.5 million doses of Sinopharm.

As of late August 30, the country has administered 19,710,560 doses, with 2,524,407 people having been fully vaccinated.