HCMC – U.S. drugmaker Pfizer will provide Vietnam with 31 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, according to the Ministry of Health.
Truong Quoc Cuong, Deputy Minister of Health, told VnExpress on May 18 that the ministry signed a deal with Pfizer to buy its vaccine. The drugmaker pledged to sell the drugs to Vietnam at the lowest price as maintained for low-income nations. However, the price remained unrevealed.
To clinch the deal, the Ministry of Health had constantly been entering into negotiations on payments, risks, reimbursement and legal responsibilities with the U.S. drugmaker.
Besides the purchase of the Pfizer vaccine, the ministry is continuing to negotiate with other international drugmakers to buy the AstraZeneca, Moderna and Gamaleya vaccines. The ministry is also seeking to obtain a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing technology transfer.
On May 17, at a meeting of the Government on the purchase of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines is a necessary and urgent task. The Ministry of Health was told to take responsibility for the selection of the Covid-19 vaccines.
