HCMC – The Ministry of Health has submitted a plan to procure and use Covid-19 vaccines for next year, proposing continuing to provide the vaccines to residents at no charge until the end of 2022.
According to the ministry, Vietnam has received more than 125 million Covid-19 vaccines. As assigned by the Government, the ministry is responsible for coordinating with the relevant ministries and agencies and localities to procure, import, manage and use Covid-19 vaccines, receive vaccine donations, distribute vaccines in line with the developments of the pandemic in localities, and ensure the fast, safe and effective vaccination.
The Government has also encouraged enterprises, organizations and individuals to take the initiative in seeking resources and buying Covid-19 vaccines. Over the past few months, some enterprises have negotiated and signed contracts to purchase Covid-19 vaccines and the Ministry of Health has licensed them to import vaccines in line with the law.
Regarding the use of the vaccines, a leader of the Department of Planning and Finance under the Ministry of Health said enterprises must state if the imported vaccines will be provided to the Ministry of Health or localities. If they import the vaccines and sell them to other enterprises, the third parties must also offer the vaccines to the Ministry of Health and localities.
If enterprises provide the vaccines to localities, they must inform the General Department of Preventive Medicine and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. The municipal and provincial governments will assign the Departments of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to distribute and administer the vaccines.
If the vaccines are provided to the Ministry of Health, the ministry will allocate the vaccines to localities, Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
