Today (23 February), Mongolia began its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene received the nation’s first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, India sent 150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Mongolia on Sunday. The country of three million also received 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s National Pharmaceutical Group Corp, known as Sinopharm.

Mongolia plans to import Pfizer and more AstraZeneca vaccines as well as vaccine developed in Russia. The government has approved a comprehensive MNT226 billion budget for the vaccination programme, including purchase, transportation, storage and inoculation. Mongolia intends to vaccinate at least 60 per cent of its 3.3 million population – in other words, all the adults in the country – against coronavirus by the end of 2021, with 20 per cent of them being vaccinated under COVAX, a global initiative to ensure quick and equal access to vaccines against the virus.