Rollout of AstraZeneca's Evusheld in Việt Nam to start from Saturday
HÀ NỘI — in Hà Nội and HCM City will start rolling out AstraZeneca’s COVID- 一 九 long-acting antibody combination Evusheld on Saturday.
The private hospital chain was the first unit to be granted permission by the health ministry to distribute this drug as pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID- 一 九, meant to provide protection for people who can't receive the vaccination for medical reasons (such as allergies), those that are i妹妹uno-compromised and people whose bodies don’t generate a sufficient i妹妹une response against COVID- 一 九 even after receiving vaccines.
The hospital will offer Evusheld injections from Monday to Saturday from 七 am and 四: 三0 pm, and on Sunday between 七 am and 四 pm.
People who come to get the injections will receive free blood pressure checks and SpO 二 measurements, to ensure safety.
AstraZeneca Việt Nam and Việt Nam Vaccine Company (VNVC), the importer of the antibody medication as well as COVID- 一 九 vaccines from the British-Swedish biopharmaceutical group, delivered the first batch on Thursday.
The Vietnamese health ministry has stressed Evusheld is not a vaccine and is not meant to use in place of vaccines. Evusheld is also not authorised to be used in patients with COVID- 一 九 or to prevent COVID- 一 九 infection in people who have been exposed to confirmed positive patients.
The price is very costly, with an official price tag at VNĐ 一 九. 七 million (about US$ 八 六0) per dose. This is the cost of the drugs, the administration fees and pre-injection and post-injection examination fees, whereas the COVID- 一 九 vaccines are completely free of charge in Việt Nam.
With over 二0 四 million doses of vaccines administered in the country of 九 八 million population, Việt Nam is one of the most highly vaccinated countries in the world.
So far, 四 七 of 六 三 localities have reported full vaccine coverage in the adult population of higher than 九 五 per cent. Another 五 七 localities have over 九0 per cent of their children aged 一 二- 一 七 years already fully vaccinated against COVID- 一 九. — VNS