HCM City (VNA) – A plane carrying the firstbatch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine landed at Tan Son Nhat airport, HoChi Minh City, on February 24.

The vaccine was jointly studied and produced by AstraZenecapharmaceutical company and the UK’s Oxford University.

Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong highlighted thesignificance of the vaccine delivery at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic iserupting in Hai Duong, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh.

With the delivery, Vietnam has become one of the firstcountries in Asia to access a prestigious vaccine in the world.

In order to achieve the dual goal of fighting the pandemicand developing the economy, it is necessary to increase vaccination to reachcommunity immunity, he said.

Apart from stepping up the trial and production of vaccinesat home, the Health Ministry is working to import more vaccines from otherproducers as directed by the Government while preparing for vaccination in the prioritylist, he added.

Vu Thu Ha, Director of the Vietnam Vaccine JSC (VNVC) –importer of the vaccine, said the batch will be brought to the VNVC’s supercold facilities for storage in line with the Government and Health Ministry’sregulations.

Result from clinical trials showed that 22 days after thefirst shot, AstraZeneca vaccine could fully protect people from seriousillness, hospitalisation and death caused by the novel coronavirus. Within 90days, the vaccine’s potency could reach 76 percent.

Analyses showed that the vaccine could reduce infection riskby two thirds for cases without symptoms./.