HANOI - The United States’ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will provide training for the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance to distinguish between authorized and counterfeit Covid-19 vaccines before the American drugmaker Pfizer delivers the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

During the training, which will take place on June 16, HSI will also share the outcomes of its global investigations into the trade of counterfeit Covid-19 vaccines and medical equipment, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Pfizer will provide information related to the characteristics and packing specifications of legitimate and authorized Covid-19 vaccines.

The training is expected to help ensure the efficiency of Vietnam’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign and safety for the people.

The Ministry of Health approved the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency use on June 12. This is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine approved by the ministry, following the United Kingdom's AstraZeneca, Russia's Sputnik V and China's Vero Cell.

On May 20, the ministry signed a contract to buy the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and 31 million doses of the vaccine are expected to be supplied to Vietnam in two 15.5-million-dose shipments.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, the first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine batch would arrive in Vietnam from now until July.

The vaccine will be used under the instructions of the Ministry of Health. Vaccine distributors must cooperate with the ministry to offer risk management for the vaccine in Vietnam.

Vietnam is also among 92 low- and lower middle-income countries the U.S. will donate the Pfizer–BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine shots to by June next year, the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam said late last week.

However, the embassy did not provide any specific number of vaccine doses for Vietnam.