US donates 2.87 million more Covid-19 vaccine doses

The US has just sent 2,873,520 additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to support Vietnam in its fight against Covid-19.

The US has just sent 2,873,520 additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to support Vietnam in its fight against Covid-19.

The US has just sent 2,873,520 additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to support Vietnam in its fight against Covid-19. Illustrative photo by UNICEF Vietnam

According to the US Embassy in Vietnam, 1,316,250 doses arrived on November 6 in Hanoi, and 1,557,270 doses arrived in two shipments on November 7 and 8 in Ho Chi Minh City, all through the COVAX Facility.

The latest batches have raised the total number of Covid-19 vaccines that the US government have donated to Vietnam to more than 15 million doses.

Besides vaccine donations, the US committed USD26.7 million in grants to help Vietnam respond to the pandemic and more than USD1 billion to develop local health infrastructure.

The US Department of Defence has also delivered 77 out of 111 ultra-low temperature freezers to Vietnam to help store vaccines.

In June, US President Joe Biden pledged to share a total of 80 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines worldwide. He said about 75 percent of the vaccines will be delivered through the COVAX Facility, while the remaining 25 percent will be distributed directly.