A health worker injects a doctor with a dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, Vietnam Monday, March 8, 2021.
(AP Photo/Hau Dinh)HANOI – Vietnam administered its first COVID-19 doses Monday to the front-line workers who made the nation's relative success in controlling the pandemic possible — health workers, contact tracers and security forces who handled quarantine duties.
Thousands of doctors, nurses and technicians working at hospitals designated to treat COVID-19 patients lined up in the morning and received the first jabs of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Separately, Vietnam expects to secure another 30 million doses of the same vaccine through COVAX, a U.N.-backed initiative created to ensure vaccine access to low- and middle-income countries.
It is also negotiating with Pfizer for another 30 million doses, according to the health ministry.