MEETING WITH ASTRAZENECA ON VACCINE PROCUREMENT
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga held a meeting with officials from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca via video conference to exchange views on supply of COVID-19 vaccines, being developed by the company.
The AZD1222 vaccine, under development by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, has shown 70 percent efficacy, as reported by the pharmaceutical company on November 23.
At the outset of the meeting, President Battulga commended the AstraZeneca for exerting great efforts in developing and supplying the vaccine that is crucial in the fight against COVID-19 global pandemic. He then noted that since more than half of Mongolia’s population lives in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, posing an increased risk of spreading the virus, it is important to vaccinate the entire population within a short period of time when it becomes available.
The President expressed his eagerness to first purchase COVID-19 vaccines being developed by the company as soon as they start producing.
In turn, the AstraZeneca officials expressed their delight with the fact that the President of Mongolia himself is attaching significance to this issue, and also pledged to cooperate with Mongolia and include Mongolia among the first countries to receive vaccine shipments when they start selling.
At the meeting, President Battulga informed that he will be giving directions to the Government and the State Emergency Commission of Mongolia to ensure preparation of procurement of AstraZeneca vaccines.