HCMC – Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, at a meeting on May 28 with Zuellig Pharma Company, distributor of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in Vietnam, suggested the firm supply the vaccine to Vietnam at the earliest and at the most reasonable price to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response, Zuellig Pharma committed to working with Moderna on Vietnam’s proposal as early as possible, news site VnExpress reported.
The European Medicines Agency on January 6 approved the vaccine, which is 90% effective against Covid-19 in six months. It has been used in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
The World Health Organization on May 30 approved the vaccine for emergency use.
On May 28, Minister Long also worked with representatives of the Japanese and South Korean embassies and foreign enterprises in Vietnam on the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and vaccination for laborers in factories and industrial parks.
Vietnam’s aim is to access Covid-19 vaccines at the earliest and vaccinate the largest possible number of residents, Long said.
As Vietnam is not a Covid-19 hotspot, it is harder to access Covid-19 vaccines compared with other countries as Covid-19 vaccine suppliers have prioritized vaccines for pandemic hotspots.
The Ministry of Health and relevant agencies have discussed ways to access the vaccines.
COVAX Facility has pledged to provide Vietnam with 38.9 million Covid-19 vaccines doses. Vietnam has also proposed COVAX provide an additional 10 million doses under the cost-sharing model.
Long expected embassies and enterprises sponsoring COVAX to help Vietnam secure more Covid-19 vaccines and countries with redundant Covid-19 vaccines to facilitate Vietnam to access them.
At the meeting, representatives of associations, chambers of commerce and enterprises agreed to share the costs for the Covid-19 vaccination of employees of foreign-invested firms.
