The Ministry of Health has worked with COVAX and sent a letter to UNICEF to ask for ensuring COVID-19 vaccine supply for Vietnam as soon as possible.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long at a working session with Ms. Rana Flowers, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Vietnam (Photo: Reporter/Vietnam+)Hanoi (VNA) - UNICEF said it will actively negotiate with relevant parties to soon supply Covid-19 vaccines for Vietnam.
UNICEF Representative in Viet Nam Rana Flowers made the affirmation at her meeting with Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long on June 8 afternoon.
Slow delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam
At the meeting, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stresses on UNICEF increased negotiation with COVAX to supply COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam as soon as possible.
Minister Long said although the Ministry of Health has been trying to access vaccine sources to ensure that 70% of the population is vaccinated by the year end to create herd immunity, but up to now, vaccines delivery to Vietnam is slow.
According to Long, Vietnam is facing the 4th wave of Covid-19 epidemic with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 capable of spreading quickly and widely. The Vietnamese government is drastically directing epidemic prevention and control measures to soon stabilise the situation.
One of the priorities in Vietnam’s Covid-19 prevention is to soon have Covid-19 vaccines and make vaccination coverage wider for the people. Therefore, in parallel with efforts to find, negotiate and exchange with partners, manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines to bring vaccines to Vietnam, the Ministry of Health and related agencies also focus on developing homegrown vaccines to gradually ensure vaccine supply. At the same time, Vietnam also participates in COVAX’s global vaccine scheme.
Over the past time, COVAX and UNICEF have accompanied Vietnam in the fight against COVID-19. Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that the Health Ministry has worked with COVAX and has sent a letter to UNICEF, hoping that UNICEF will strengthen its negotiation and exchange with COVAX on how to access to sources and deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam as quickly as possible.
Accelerating rapid delivery of vaccines to Vietnam
Echoing the Minister’s point of view on the complexity and rapid spread of the fourth COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam Rana Flowers said in order to preserve COVID-19 vaccines, 1,910 high-capacity cold chain fridges will be shipped to Vietnam at the end of July. This is the first batch of cold equipment in the support package financed by the Australian government's budget.
Additionally, UNICEF has ordered five refrigerated trucks specialised in transporting vaccines that will arrive in Vietnam in August and September, while UNICEF will also deliver five million needles and syringes to Vietnam.
UNICEF Viet Nam Representative Rana Flowers (Photo: Reporter/Vietnam+)UNICEF Viet Nam Representative Rana Flowers also affirmed that after this meeting, UNICEF will actively negotiate with relevant parties to quickly get vaccines for Vietnam.
UNICEF cares about children quarantined due to COVID-19
Rana Flowers hailed Vietnam's initiative in establishing the COVID-19 vaccine fund as well as the efforts of the Government and the Ministry of Health in the epidemic prevention. As the head of the United Nations Children's Fund in Vietnam, she expressed concern about the issue of quarantine for children.
In this regard, Minister Nguyen Thanh Long shared that quarantine is a measure in the fight against COVID-19 of Vietnam.
Children are always a priority in Vietnam, the Minister asserted, adding that all quarantine costs for children are sponsored by the State. Recently, some isolation regulations have been adjusted to create conditions for children who are under quarantine. Accordingly, children under 5 years old can be quarantied at home and children over 5 years old will be isolated with a family member or a guardian.
“We will adjust the regulation on isolation for children in line with epidemic prevention practices and respect for children's rights under international conventions. Besides, we also want to access Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine so that Vietnamese children from 12-18 years old can be vaccinated," said the Minister of Health./.