Vietnam receives China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines

Staff members unload China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, June 20, 2021. A plane carrying another batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday arrived at the Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. A brief handover event was held at the airport, which was attended by Vietnam's Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo. (Xinhua/Jiang Shengxiong)

HANOI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A plane carrying a batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday arrived at the Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

A brief handover ceremony was held at the airport, which was attended by Vietnam's Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo.

The Vietnamese government and the people sincerely thank China for the donation of the vaccines, Long said at the event.

Vietnam pledges to quickly and safely administer the vaccines to those in need, including Chinese citizens in Vietnam, Vietnamese citizens looking to go to China for work and living, and residents in the localities near the Vietnam-China border, he said.

In his speech, Xiong said the donation was a concrete action in implementing the consensus reached by the leaders of the two parties and the two countries, and a vivid image of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam.

"I believe this batch of vaccines will help both Vietnam's epidemic prevention and control and its socioeconomic development," he said.

The handover of the vaccine came after Vietnam's Ministry of Health announced the approval of the vaccine for emergency use in the country on June 4.

The Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine was validated by the World Health Organization in early May for emergency use.

Vietnam is currently fighting its worst wave of COVID-19 infections which began in late April.

As of 6:00 p.m. local time Sunday, the country has registered a total of 11,513 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, including 9,943 detected since the start of the latest outbreak, according to the country's Ministry of Health.