Vietnam plans to buy Pfizer, Sputnik vaccines

Vietnam is negotiating to buy Pfizer-BioNTech and Sputnik V vaccines besides AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that has its first doses landed in the country.

A health worker shows a box of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V at Szent Janos Hospital in Budapest, Hungary. Photo: Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP

The negotiations between the Ministry of Health and Pfizer Inc. have resulted in the possible supply of 30 million doses of vaccines to Vietnam in 2021, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said at a government meeting on February 24.

The ministry is also negotiating to buy and license Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, Long said, adding that the manufacturer announced to supply roughly 60 million doses to Vietnam.

Accordingly, the vaccine supply roadmap for Vietnam includes 1.3 million doses (of which the first batch of 117,000 doses arrived in the country on February 24) for the first quarter (Q1); 9.5 million doses in Q2; 25.9 million doses in Q3; and 51.1 million doses for Q4.

In total, the 98-million country might get 90 million doses of Covid vaccines in 2021.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is recommended for people aged 16 years and older.

Based on evidence from clinical trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 illness in people without evidence of previous infection, according to US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC).

Meanwhile, Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine gives 91.6% protection against Covid-19, reported The Lancet, an independent, international weekly general medical journal founded in 1823.

So far, the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V is still waiting for the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before it can be deployed in all 27 EU member states. Russian authorities say that the vaccine has been adopted by 31 countries.