Hanoi (VNA)– Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti, head ofthe EU Delegation to Vietnam, and some ambassadors of EU member countries onMarch 23 affirmed the safety of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Duringa meeting with the press before the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Vietnam via theWHO-led Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative, Ambassador Aliberti said the EU has put the safety of the vaccinefirst.

Regarding the suspensionof AstraZeneca vaccine rollouts by certainEU countries, the ambassador said the EU’s competent agencies have made effortsin tracing scientific evidence proving the safety of the vaccine.

TheEuropean Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently allowed to resume the inoculation,he added.

Thecases of vaccination side effects found in Europe over the past time are very rare,about only one in one million vaccinated people, according to the ambassador.

EchoingAliberti’s view, German Ambassador to Vietnam Guido Hildner said seven outof 1.7 million vaccinated people in Germany have experienced side effects.However, the German Government then agreed to resume the vaccination following cautiousassessments.

Vaccinatedpeople must be under close supervision following the injection, he suggested.

Accordingto Aliberti, through the “TeamEurope” initiative, the EU has become thefirst sponsor that has significantly contributed to the COVAX facility, with fundingof 2.6 billion EUR, making up 40 percent of the programme’s total budget.

ViaCOVAX, the EU wants to press ahead with COVID-19 vaccine procurement to vaccinate theglobal population, he stressed.

Vietnamis among the 92 countries selected by the EU to receive the vaccine during thefirst phase of the programme, the ambassador said, noting that more than 1.3million doses of vaccines are scheduled to be delivered to Vietnam in late Marchor early April.

COVAXannounced Vietnam will receive from 4,886,400 to 8,253,600 doses, of which25 – 35 percent will be delivered in the first quarter and the remainder in thesecond quarter of 2021. Astra Zeneca vaccine has been selected for the initialrollout.

TheEU will make its best to soon bring COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam, Aliberti pledged. Around 18 million doses are expected to arrive in the country by theend of this year, covering 15 percent of its population, towards the target of vaccinating20 percent of the population in the first stage.

Ambassadorsfrom Spain, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic affirmed their support forthe EU’s efforts to roll out COVID-19 vaccines in countries worldwide,including Vietnam./.