HANOI (VIETNAM) – Vietnam’s health ministry has sought to get their hands on a Russian COVID-19 vaccine, as reported by state television on Friday. After having reported no local cases, the Southeast Asian country is fighting a new outbreak of the coronavirus.
Russia revealed on Wednesday that the first batch of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine would be rolled out within two weeks.
State broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) said, citing Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, “In the meantime, Vietnam will still continue developing the country’s own COVID-19 vaccine,” .
The ministry, however, has not revealed how many doses of the Russian vaccine has been ordered, or when it expected to receive them. It was also added last month that its home-grown vaccine will be available by the end of 2021.
With a total of 911 infections and 21 deaths, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has warned that there is high risk of a wider spread of the virus is “very high”, and said that the next several days would be “critical” in fighting the outbreak.
The head of Vietnam’s coronavirus taskforce, Vu Duc Dam, said, “We are implementing the anti-virus measures of a poor country, so everyone has to stay alert and know how to protect themselves from the virus.”
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.