US to donate 1 million more doses of Pfizer vaccine to Vietnam

In a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the morning of August 25, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the US will donate 1 million more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam, which may arrive within the next 24 hours.

The meeting took place within the framework of Vice President Harris’s visit to Vietnam from August 24 to 26. This is the first visit to Vietnam by a sitting US Vice President.

She said the new donation brings the US’s total vaccine aid to Vietnam to 6 million doses. The Vice President also suggested strengthening economic and security cooperation between the two countries and affirmed that the US wants to have a long-term partnership with Vietnam.

A statement released after the meeting said the bilateral relationship has made remarkable progress over the last few decades. The two countries are now cooperating in many fields, including in fighting Covid-19, preparing to respond to future health threats, and combating climate change, etc.

“The United States has developed a profound bilateral economic relationship as Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner and top export market,” the statement said. “Vietnam’s economy plays an important role in supply chains that the US depends on - something the Covid-19 pandemic has made even more clear.”

Before meeting with Prime Minister Chinh, Vice President Harris met with State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan. During her meeting with President Phuc, she reaffirmed that the US supports a strong, independent, and prosperous Vietnam that continues to innovate, expand international integration, and assume an increasingly important role in the economic development of ASEAN and the region. She also highly appreciated Vietnam’s efforts to control Covid-19 and reaffirmed the US’s commitment to supporting its fight against the pandemic.