{"id":110430,"date":"2021-03-24T14:43:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T14:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=110430"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:43:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T14:43:55","slug":"vietnam-seeks-to-diversify-covid-19-vaccine-sources-amid-supply-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/vietnam-seeks-to-diversify-covid-19-vaccine-sources-amid-supply-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam seeks to diversify COVID-19 vaccine sources amid supply issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam on Wednesday called for urgent diversification of its sources for COVID-19 vaccines amid global supply problems, as the Southeast Asian country pushes forward with an inoculation program that began earlier this month.<\/p> \u201cCOVID-19 vaccine supplies for Vietnam have been impacted by the complicated developments of the coronavirus pandemic in the world,\u201d the government said in a statement.<\/p>\n Vietnam\u2019s Drug Administration has asked importers to try to secure as soon as possible safe vaccines from more sources, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Russia\u2019s Sputnik V, Moderna and China\u2019s Sinovac, the statement said.<\/p>\n Vietnam\u2019s vaccination campaign, which was launched on March 8, has relied solely on the batch of 117,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine it received last month.<\/p>\n The country has so far approved the AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines for use against COVID-19.<\/p>\n Earlier on Wednesday, UNICEF said on behalf of the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility that the projected deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to all countries, including Vietnam, had to be delayed due to production delays.<\/p>\n \u201cVietnam is now due to receive 811,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the next three weeks,\u201d UNICEF said. \u201cThis quantity is smaller than previously announced for the first shipment.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has previously said it would acquire a total of 150 million vaccine doses, through direct purchases from producers and via the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Health said last week that Vietnam\u2019s first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, called Nanocovax, is expected to be put into use in 2022, noting that four Vietnamese companies were engaged in vaccine research and production and two were undertaking human tests.<\/p>\n The Southeast Asian country has been praised for its efforts to contain the virus through mass testing and tracing and strict quarantining. It has recorded 2,576 COVID-19 infections and 35 deaths due to the disease.<\/p>\n