More Covid-19 vaccines arrive, Germany becomes biggest European donor of Vietnam

A shipment of 2.55 doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Hanoi last weekend makes Germany the largest European donor of Covid-19 vaccines for Vietnam with six million doses.

A batch of 2.55 million doses of Germany-donated Covid-19 vaccine arrives in Hanoi on Dec 10. Photos: Embassy of Germany in Hanoi

The vaccine donation was sent via the global vaccine sharing platform COVAX in close coordination with UNICEF, WHO Vietnam and the Vietnamese government.

According to Dr. Guido Hildner, the German Ambassador to Vietnam, his country will further support Vietnam’s vaccination campaign and provide it with additional doses, which is expected to make its total donation of over 10 million doses to Vietnam. 

With this new delivery of over 2.5 million doses of vaccine through COVAX, Germany reaffirms its solidarity with Vietnam in combating and overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Guido Hildner said.

“Current developments show that the pandemic is far from being defeated. Germany will provide further vaccines to Vietnam through the international vaccine platform COVAX. We can only defeat the pandemic if it is brought under control everywhere. Therefore, Germany and the European Union support the COVAX vaccination campaign for fair and transparent access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide,” the ambassador said upon the arrival of the latest batch.

Rana Flowers, United Nations Coordinator a.i. and representative of UNICEF in Vietnam, said: “On behalf of the UN family, we thank the Government and people of Germany for sharing these life-saving vaccine doses with the Vietnamese people. We seek to ensure vaccines reach every corner of this country and the world, equitably. The Governments who have supported and continue to support COVAX, including through financial support and donations of vaccine are the change-makers in the fight against the spread of this pandemic.”

From left: Dr. Guido Hildner, German Ambassador to Vietnam; Rana Flowers, United Nations Coordinator a.i. and representative of UNICEF in Vietnam; Dr. Satoko Otsu, Coordinator of Disease Control and Health Emergency Program, WHO Vietnam; Dr. Nguyen Cong Luat from National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).

In November, the German Embassy in Hanoi handed over 75 ventilators, 15 monitors, and 20000 pulse oximeters worth EUR825,000 (US$925,000) to the Hanoi Medical University Hospital.

In May 2021, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) established one of four new global centers for health and pandemic prevention in Vietnam aiming at preventing infectious diseases and helping treat them.

Germany is also committed to assisting Vietnam with EUR104 million, which will be disbursed for current and future projects in vocational training, healthcare (One Health), welfare, and digitalization.

The activities also include the establishment of a center for pandemic prevention, together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, and the creation of advisory services to combat illegal wildlife trade.

Dr. Guido Hildner ever said that “Germany will continue to support Vietnam to the best of its ability in the fight against the pandemic.”

With the delivery of the vaccines donated by the German government, Vietnam has received a total of 45.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine so far through the COVAX.

The COVAX facility is jointly led by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and UNICEF, aiming to accelerate the development and production of Covid-19 vaccines and ensure fair and equitable access for all countries in the world.

Meanwhile, Germany co-founded the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) coordination mechanism last year and is its second-largest donor with €2.2 billion.

By early December 2021, around 144 countries and territories were supplied with a total of more than 610 million doses of the vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and BioNTech through ACT-A.

Germany will deliver 175 million doses of vaccine to emerging and developing countries; 100 million doses will be made available in 2021. The majority of these doses will be distributed via COVAX.