PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the cabinet meeting in Hanoi, March 2, 2021. (Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu)

Addressing a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Phuc requested the Health Ministry roll out the vaccination program this week. 

"We must continue to strictly adhere to preventative measures, and be faster in the contact tracing and isolation of affected areas," said Mr. Phuc.

"Vaccination should begin this week with priority given to the poor, policy beneficiaries, and high-risk groups. The Government will provide financial support to secure everyone’s access to vaccines.”

The Ministry of Health said last week that Vietnam aims to obtain 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, including 30 million through the WHO-led COVAX scheme, 30 million from AstraZeneca, and the rest from negotiations with Pfizer. It noted that talks were also taking place to secure Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

The first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived on Wednesday.