Nearly 12 million children aged 5 - 11 will be inoculated against COVID-19 soon. (Illustrative image)

The second and third consignments of the vaccines running to more than 2 million and 4 million doses respectively are scheduled to arrive on April 13 and April 18. All of the three consignments of the vaccines were donated by the Australian Government, Tuyen said.

The vaccines will be allocated to localities for immediate inoculation as soon as they are delivered to ensure the progress of the national vaccination campaign for children.

Priority will be given to under 12 children and then to children of other age groups, according to the National Expanded Immunization Programme.

The Ministry of Health considers vaccinating children aged 5 to under 12 years a key task this year in order to protect children’s health and help them safely return to school when Vietnam is reopening all business services for socio-economic recovery.

The ministry earlier approved both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for child immunization in Vietnam. Currently, Vietnam has 11.8 million children aged five to 11 years.