The United States congratulates Vietnam on their first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX campaign, with the arrival of 811,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This campaign was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The United States recently announced a commitment to provide an initial payment of $2 billion—out of a total planned $4 billion—to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the United States the single largest contributor to global COVID-19 vaccine access.
“I continue to be impressed by Vietnam’s proactive leadership in controlling this pandemic,” remarked U.S. Ambassador Daniel J. Kritenbrink. “We are proud of our partnership and long history of collaboration in health to prevent, detect, and respond to serious infectious disease threats, and we are pleased to see COVAX support to Vietnam.”
The U.S. contributions to COVAX, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle- income countries. This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy. The United States is committed to collaborating with partners and governments to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $1 billion in health assistance for Vietnam, and we built upon our long-standing cooperation in the health sector to strengthen Vietnam’s capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has contributed over $13 million to help Vietnam in its fight against COVID-19, including in the in areas of surveillance, laboratory system strengthening, biosafety/biosecurity, emergency management and operations, workforce development and training, zoonotic diseases, infection prevention and control, and risk communication and community engagement.