HCMC – Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on May 26 signed a decision setting up the Covid-19 vaccine fund to mobilize donations, besides the State budget, to buy Covid-19 vaccine for Vietnamese.
The fund will receive, manage and use voluntary donations in cash and vaccine from domestic and foreign individuals and organizations. The fund will also receive money from other legal sources to import and produce Covid-19 vaccine.
It is a nonprofit fund but its money will be deposited in commercial banks.
To ensure the proper, transparent and effective use of the fund, the Government asked the fund to comply with the Law on Accounting and a Ministry of Finance circular guiding the implementation of the law.
Specifically, it must report its operations to the Government and the National Assembly and publicize the mobilized amounts, the list of donors, the amount spent and the balance.
The fund will be monitored by the Central Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee and subject to inspections and audits by the State Audit of Vietnam and other government agencies.
In addition, the Ministry of Health is responsible for estimating the demand for Covid-19 vaccine, importing, studying and producing and using vaccine and making proposals to the prime minister so that the Ministry of Finance can allocate resources from the fund.
The Ministry of Finance will pick its officials to run the fund. The fund’s operation costs will be sourced from the State budget.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the needed cost for Covid-19 vaccine imports would be high if the pandemic continues to spread. If the country depends on the State budget for Covid-19 vaccine, pandemic prevention and control will be more difficult.
As for the cost of buying Covid-19 vaccine, some VND16 trillion is expected to be sourced from the State budget and VND9.2 trillion from localities’ budgets, enterprises and organizations.
Of the total, VND21 trillion will be used to buy 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for some 75 million people and VND4.2 trillion for transporting, storing, distributing and administer the vaccine.
By Van Phong
