The COVID-19 vaccination in Vietnam is an ongoing immunization campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in response to the ongoing pandemic in the country. Following the approval of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on 30 January 2021, vaccinations commenced on 8 March 2021, and will continue throughout the year with the goal of vaccinating 80% of the population by June 2022. The Sputnik V was later approved for use on 23 March 2021. The Sinopharm BIBP vaccine was approved for emergency use on 4 June 2021, while Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and Janssen COVID-19 vaccine were approved on 12 June 2021, 29 June 2021, and 15 July 2021, respectively. Vietnam approved Abdala vaccine from Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology on 18 September 2021, and Covaxin from Bharat Biotech on 10 November 2021.
This is the country's largest-ever immunization campaign, aiming to administer over 150 million doses. As of 6 April 2022, Vietnam has administered 207,235,119 vaccine doses across the country.
History
In August 2020, the Vietnamese government announced that they had signed up for 50 to 150 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. The Russians will also donate a number of machines, biological products and equipment to Vietnam for COVID-19 prevention, including their vaccine. In the meantime, Vietnamese researchers will still continue developing the country's own vaccine. In early June, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long confirmed that Russia had agreed to provide Vietnam with 20 million doses of Sputnik V in 2021. Vabiotech will also start packaging Sputnik V vaccine in Vietnam from July, with a monthly capacity of five million doses. On 21 July 2021, it was announced that a batch of Sputnik V had been produced for the first time in Vietnam by Vabiotech. Before that, on 12 July 2021, the Government allowed T&T Group to negotiate with the Direct Investment Fund of the Russian Federation (RDIF) for 40 million additional doses of Sputnik V vaccine, using its own fund; not from the government budget or Vietnam's vaccine fund. On August 4, 2021, Vimedimex signed an import contract with an UAE-based company called Royal Strategics Partners, for 10 million doses of COVID-19 Janssen vaccine; 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer; 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. Currently, the parties are completing legal documents to submit to the Ministry of Health for an import license.
In February 2021, the Ministry of Health suggested the government to approve COVID-19 vaccines from Gamaleya and Moderna for domestic inoculation to prevent and control the ongoing pandemic in the country. National Deployment and Vaccination plan (NDVP) was signed off by Deputy Minister of Health on 9 February 2021. Vietnam will receive the feedback of the plan from NDVP review committee as one of the required steps to receive COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX Facility – a global mechanism for developing, manufacturing, supplying and procuring COVID-19 vaccines for all country, especially for low and middle-income economies. Through COVAX, it is confirmed that Vietnam will receive 38.9 million doses of COVID vaccine in 2021. The first batch of vaccines sourced via Covax mechanism, containing 811,200 doses, arrived in Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport on 1 April 2021. On 6 July, it was confirmed that the United States would send Vietnam two million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine via Covax mechanism. 10 days later, on 16 July, the US embassy in Hanoi informed the Ministry of Health that the country will support Vietnam with 3 million additional doses of Moderna vaccine. On 25 July, the Ministry of Health said that Vietnam had received 3,000,060 doses of Moderna vaccine donated to COVAX by the US Government. 1,499,960 doses were delivered to Ho Chi Minh City on July 24 and 1,500,100 doses arrived in Hanoi on 25 July. On 25 August 2021, during a meeting in Hanoi, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced the donation of 1 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to Vietnam, which would begin arriving within the next 24 hours. The United States sent Vietnam 1.5 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine via Covax mechanism on 2 October 2021, 608,400 doses on 7 October and 397,800 doses on 8 October. On 24 and 25 October 2021, more than 2.6 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine donated to COVAX by the US Government arrived in Vietnam.
AstraZeneca has also pledged to provide Vietnam with around 30 million doses via VNVC. Besides the deal with AstraZeneca, Vietnam is also stepping up negotiations with other manufacturers. In May 2021, Vietnam struck a deal to buy 31 million vaccine doses made by Pfizer and BioNTech by the end of the year, and also registered to purchase up to 10 million additional doses through COVAX under the cost-sharing scheme. On 14 July 2021, Pfizer committed to supplying Vietnam with 20 million doses of vaccine for children aged 12–18 years in the fourth quarter of 2021. In total, by the end of 2021, Pfizer will have provided 47 million doses of vaccine to Vietnam. Vietnam is also negotiating with India to buy 15 million doses of Covaxin.
In late June, Vietnam also received 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine, although the country had not ordered a single dose of this vaccine at that time. In July, The Ministry of Health also allowed a company in Ho Chi Minh City, Sapharco, to import 5 million doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine. This is the second company in Vietnam allowed to import the COVID-19 vaccine, after VNVC. The Sinopharm BIBP vaccine will be administered to Chinese nationals in Vietnam, those wishing to go to, study or work in China and those living in border areas with China. On late July and early August 2021, Ho Chi Minh City received 2 million of the 5 million doses of the vero cell Sinopharm BIBP vaccine purchased by Sapharco. On 23 August, Ministry of Defence of Vietnam also received 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine donated by Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China. 1 million doses of the Sinopharm - Hayat vaccine purchased by Vimedimex arrived at Noi Bai Airport on September 29, 2021.
In 2021, Japan has also donated 4.08 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam, with the first batch arriving on June. On 14 July 2021, the Government of Romania announced the donation of 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Vietnam, and considered sending more in the near future. On 19 July, Government of Romania decided to increase the number of vaccines sent to Vietnam to 300,000 doses. This donation arrived in Vietnam on 25 August 2021.
Australia also committed to provide 40 million AUD in aid and 5.2 million doses vaccine for Vietnam. 403,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine part of this commitment arrived on 26 August, while another 300,000 doses arrived on 6 October. On 26 July, the Czech Republic also announced the donation of 250,000 doses of vaccine to Vietnam, and 2 days later, the UK on July 28 also announced that the country would send 415,000 doses of vaccine to Vietnam. Vietnam received 415,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the UK on 3 August 2021. On August 11, the Hungarian Government decided to donate 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to the Vietnam. On 12 August 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the donation of 670,000 doses of vaccine to Vietnam through the COVAX mechanism. In late August 2021, the Polish government also decided to donate more than 501,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam, which arrived at Nội Bài International Airport on 21 August. On 25 August 2021, it was announced that the Italian government decided to donate 801,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam through the COVAX mechanism and China would donate an additional 2 million doses of vaccine to Vietnam. On 3 September, it was announced that the German Government had decided to donate about 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam. 852,480 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Germany through the COVAX mechanism arrived in Vietnam on 16 September, while another batch of 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on 26 September.
In September 2021, in total, Italy donated more than 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca to Vietnam, making Vietnam one of the largest Italian vaccine priority partners globally. Belgium and Slovakia also donated 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam. Serbia also decided to send Vietnam 20,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. On 12 October 2021, South Korea also decided to donate 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam. On 14 October 2021, 560,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 12.5 tons of medical supplies from Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia arrived in Vietnam. On 15 October, the Ministry of Health received nearly 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 890,000 doses from Poland; 1.1 million doses from South Korea and more than 2 million doses donated by Italy. On 29 October, the Prime Minister of Kuwait decided to donate 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam.
Cuba also made pledges to supply Vietnam with 10 million doses of Abdala COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam by the end of 2021. On 25 September, 1.05 million doses of Abdala vaccine and many medical equipment arrived in Vietnam after a visit of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Cuba.
In July 2021, the Ministry of Health allowed mixing first and second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines should there be limited vaccine supply and the vaccinated person agrees.
In late July 2021, Đồng Tháp Province allowed a local company to buy 200,000 doses of Nanocovax vaccine.
On 7 May 2021, Vietnam recorded first death after administered AstraZeneca vaccine. She was a 35-year-old medical staff in An Giang Province.
On 8 September 2021, Vietnam allowed those who received a first dose of Moderna's vaccine to get a different shot when they get their second dose due to the lack of vaccine supply.
On 14 October 2021, the Ministry of Health authorized the use of COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17.
On December 10, the city of Ho Chi Minh initiated a campaign to administer third doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccinations to adults over 50, those with weakened immune systems, and frontline workers. The city plans to vaccinate all adults above the age of 18 with the third dosage in 2022.
Vaccines on order As of 9 November 2023, a total of 230,910,514 doses have arrived in Vietnam. The government began to procure doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various sources: +VaccineOriginProgressDoses orderedDoses availableApprovalDeploymentNotesOxford–AstraZenecaUnited Kingdom, Swedenphase III clinical trials55 million65,223,076Including additional doses donated by COVAX, and other countries.Sputnik VRussiaphase III clinical trials30 million1,608,998Including doses donated by Russia. Including 100,000 Sputnik Light doses. Produce in Vietnam by Vabiotech Pharmaceutical.Sinopharm BIBPChinaphase III clinical trials33 million52,261,200Including additional doses donated by China.UAE30 millionUnder the name Hayat-Vax.Pfizer–BioNTechGermany, United Statesphase III clinical trials51 million92,590,080The first batch was delivered in July 2021.Including additional doses donated by the United States through COVAX.ModernaUnited Statesphase III clinical trials5 million14,077,160Including additional doses donated by COVAX.JanssenBelgium, Netherlands, United Statesphase III clinical trials10 millionAbdalaCubaphase III clinical trials10 million5,150,000CovaxinIndiaphase III clinical trialsUnknownNanocovaxVietnamphase III clinical trials200,000ARCT-154United States, Vietnamphase I-III clinical trialsCovivacVietnamphase II clinical trialsUnknown VabiotechVietnamphase I clinical trialsUnknown