A representative of the United Kingdom gives 415,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to a representative of the Ministry of Health - PHOTO: PLO

HCMC – The United Kingdom (UK) has donated 415,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam to help the country fight off the pandemic.

David McNaught, counsellor of the Embassy of the UK in Vietnam, this morning, August 3, handed over the doses produced in the UK to the Ministry of Health at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

The ministry expressed gratitude to the UK for its donation, saying it is a valuable and timely gift for Vietnam to fight off the pandemic, just as the country is rolling out the largest-ever Covid-19 vaccination campaign to quickly reach herd immunity.

Over the past 50 years, Vietnam and the UK have continuously promoted bilateral ties. In the field of healthcare, the two countries have been deploying cooperation operations associated with clinical research, research on epidemiology, tropical diseases and infectious diseases, digital health and training, said a representative of the ministry.

In related news, up to now, the Ministry of Health has approved six Covid-19 vaccines-- AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Pfizer, Vero Cell and Spikevax or Moderna and Janssen--for emergency use.

As of now, the country has received some 17 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V, Pfizer, Moderna and Vero Cell, the local media reported.