HCMC – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has said the reciprocal recognition of Covid-19 vaccine passports with select countries is very important and especially necessary in the current situation.
According to a document issued by the Government Office on September 26, many countries around the world are using vaccine passports to reopen their economies and adapt to the “new normal”.
The prime minister has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with the Ministry of Health and related agencies of the United States as well as countries in Southeast Asia, Japan, China and South Korea to recognize each other’s vaccine passports.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry has cooperated with the Ministries of Health and Information-Communications to develop criteria to verify the Covid-19 vaccination certificates and the certificates of foreigners who have recovered from Covid-19.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health have issued temporary instructions on the verification and recognition of these certificates.
In August, the Ministry of Health also issued instructions on the quarantine of fully-vaccinated people entering Vietnam from abroad.
Early this month, a Vietnam Airlines flight carrying 297 Vietnamese passengers from Japan arrived at the Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh Province, where these passengers underwent the new seven-day quarantine period under the trial Covid-19 vaccine passport program.
All the passengers on this first flight-of-its-kind had already received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with the second dose administered at least 14 days but no more than 12 months before their arrival.
The airport received two more flights under the policy, bringing 345 Vietnamese back from the United States on September 9, and another transporting 301 Vietnamese passengers from France on September 23.
On September 25, the Government agreed to adjust the Covid-19 response strategy, from “zero Covid” to “safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling Covid”, to facilitate economic recovery.
