Deputy foreign minister russia

At the talks, General Giang congratulated General Sergey Shoygu on Russia’s National Day (June 12) and extended his best wishes to all officers and the ranks in the Russian Armed Forces.

Giang also thanked the Russian Defense Minister for sending a letter of congratulations to him over his promotion to defense minister and invited the Russian minister to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time this year.

The Vietnamese Defense Minister affirmed that the phone talk will create a new impetus for the further development of bilateral defense cooperation, contributing to strengthening the long-standing traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

He said that the Vietnamese Party, State, people and military always bear in mind the valuable support of the Russian armed forces and people to the Vietnamese people’s struggles for national independence in the past and current national construction and defense cause.

For his part, General Sergei Shoigu once again congratulated General Giang on his appointment as defense minister and expressed his belief that in his current post, Giang will continue making significant contributions to developing the relationship between the two nations in general and two militaries in particular.

At the talks, the two sides highly appreciated the history of the two countries’ relationship, including the bilateral defense ties and their willingness to preserve and promote their bilateral traditional friendship as well as the Vietnam – Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.

Over the past time, the two defense ministries have effectively implemented high-level agreements and cooperation contents through exerting efforts in building specific cooperation plans and programs as well as strengthening their existing cooperation mechanisms and frameworks.

The two defense ministers agreed to carry out prioritized cooperation contents, including training, participation in multilateral activities hosted by the Russian side, COVID-19 prevention and control, scientific research within the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre, and cooperation between the General Department of Political Affairs of the Vietnam People’s Army and the Directorate for Political-Military Affairs of the Russian Armed Forces.

Translated by Tran Hoai

Vietnam vows to pursue the twin goal of containing Covid-19 and developing the economy to serve the recovery plans.

Vietnam’s most powerful body Politburo on June 11 required local authorities to pilot vaccine passports to foreign visitors in some unaffected areas like Phu Quoc Island, one of the country’s most tourist attractions.

A vaccine passport has been applied in some countries. Photo: Forbes.com

So far, Vietnam has not regulated vaccination pass for vaccinated people amid the global popularity. The move was made as part of the effort enabling Vietnam to pursue its twin goal of containing the virus and developing an economy.

Local health experts have warned of some risk relating to the vaccine passport, saying that it still requires the 5K (masking – disinfection – distance – no gathering – medical declaration) principle.

The government of Vietnam some months ago asked the Ministry of Health to consider the relaxation to open the economy. But Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Tuan said at a government meeting in early May that no vaccine has 100% efficacy and the vaccination has yet proved totally safe.

Vaccine passport has been applied in some countries and areas but the World Health Organization (WHO) which called it “immunity” passport has outlined considerations regarding this.

“It does not address the use of certificates for signifying a person’s immune status, which reflects whether a person has developed antibodies in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection; whereas vaccination status reflects only whether someone has received a Covid-19 vaccine,” WHO stated.

At the meeting on June 11, the Politburo required local authorities to make a public Covid-19 vaccination roadmap amid the increasing infections.

The Politburo made the request after the fresh outbreak in Vietnam enters the sixth week with the infections approach 7,000 or two-third of the country’s total caseload since early 2020.

So far, Covid-19 has swept 39 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide.

To facilitate the inoculation, individuals and organizations are encouraged to join the vaccine import and development to serve the only mission of vaccinating as many people as possible.

The vaccination priority list remains those who are frontline workers, high-risk groups, workers at industrial parks, and children.

As of June 11, more than 1.5 million doses have been administered since the launching of the inoculation on March 8.

To achieve herd immunity, Vietnam needs to inject 70% of adults aged above 18. It means the country needs some 150 million doses. But the challenge facing Vietnam is thin supply.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said earlier that the suppliers have pledged to provide 150 million doses this year and early 2022. However, part of the committed volume has no delivery plan yet.

In addition, Politburo asked local authorities to tighten control over illegal immigration and the entry of incoming people to prevent imported risk.

The event was attended by heads of ADSOM+WG of ASEAN member countries, representatives of Defense Ministries of the bloc’s partners (Russia, China, the U.S., Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India) and representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting was led by Senior Colonel Pham Manh Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Relations under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense.

This was the third meeting that Brunei had hosted during the country’s 2021 ASEAN Chairmanship Year.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Head of Brunei’s ADSOM+ WG highlighted the active participation of ASEAN member countries and the bloc’s partners in the event, affirming that their attendance showed  their support for Brunei as ASEAN Chair in 2021. He expressed belief that the meeting will be a success.

As reported, this ADSOM+WG was held to review the final preparations for the 8th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) which is scheduled to take place virtually on June 16.  Delegates discussed and agreed on the agenda and draft joint statement for the upcoming 8th ADMM+.

Translated by Tran Hoai

The Government has created conditions for localities and businesses to stimulate the import of Covid-19 vaccines, however, no proposals have been sent to the relevant agencies.

A doctor conducts vaccination against Covid-19 at E Hospital in Hanoi. Photo: Cong Hung

The Ministry of Health has recently listed 36 businesses qualified to import, transport, and preserve vaccines in Vietnam, however, there are no businesses have registered to take part in this challenging market.

To gain green light from the Government and relevant agencies, the vaccine importers need to prove their capabilities in importing, preserving, transporting, and deploying vaccination, along with commitments to fairness, anti-fraud, -dumping and -price hike in the process.

An expert from the health sector, who wanted to be anonymous, told The Hanoi Times that the businesses engaged in this big “game” need to prepare the best conditions for their warehouse system and transportation to ensure the quality of vaccines.

“The import of vaccines is not like that of normal pharmaceuticals, therefore, it is difficult for businesses to import vaccines to Vietnam even though it has been facilitated,” he said.

According to an instruction released by the Ministry of Health recently, the vaccine importers need to have a dossier including Ex Works (EXW) or certificate of quality granted by management agencies, which will be approved by the National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals within 48 hours, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure quality and avoid importing vaccines of unknown origin.

Vietnam has allowed the import of vaccines, including AstraZeneca from the UK, Sputnick V from Russia, Pfizer from the US, Sputnick from India, and Sinovac from China, through the Government’s assigned agencies and qualified businesses.

Vu Tuan Cuong, Head of the Ministry of Health’s Drug Administration of Viet Nam, told The Hanoi Times that his department has promptly handled all orders of importing the Covid-19 vaccines from the Covax vaccine-sharing program proposed by the AstraZeneca Vietnam Company.

He said the department has also guided diplomatic organizations to submit dossiers enabling them to import the vaccines into Vietnam via non-commercial way according to the law, and approved the import of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Gamaleya, Sinopharm, and Pfizer that will be used in emergency cases.

“We have also asked businesses to send their dossiers to import other vaccines from pharmaceutical firms including Moderna and Johnson&Johnson,” Cuong said.

Cuong said the department has discussed with a number of localities, corporations, and enterprises about procedures related to the vaccine import. However, the ministry has not received any order to import Covid-19 vaccines from them.

A businessperson, who doesn’t want to disclose his name, told The Hanoi Times that the Government’s policy of opening up opportunities to import vaccines to Vietnam is a right and wise decision. His company has been negotiating with at least two vaccine manufacturers approved by WHO.

“However, this is an uneasy business at this time because the demand for vaccines is very high in many countries while the supply is limited. In addition, the conditions for importing vaccines are extremely strict. The expiry date of the vaccine is a short time, within six months from the time of production,” he said.

It may take 1.5 months to transport to Vietnam and half a month for testing and making procedures. If the vaccination is delayed, it may lead to the expiration of the vaccine,” he added.

Modern technology required

Vietnam has imported more than 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. Photo: kinhtedothi

Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) was the first to have imported 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam. It has so far received the second batch with 287,600 doses, bringing the total number of vaccines to Vietnam under this contract to 405,200 doses.

Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong has directed VNVC to seek and order more Covid-19 vaccines to serve the people’s vaccination needs. In the following months, VNVC will receive millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine per month.

VNVC is currently the only unit in Vietnam that owns a GSP standard cold chain system at its more than 50 vaccination centers nationwide, which are fully equipped with the modern automatic temperature control system, over-temperature warning system, and refrigerated vehicle for vaccines, ensuring standards required by the manufacturers.

The company is also the first and only unit in Vietnam to have a system of three sub-zero temperatures from around -40 degrees Celsius to -86 degrees Celsius, making the total capacity of vaccine preservation under the GSP standards up to 180 million doses of all kinds.

According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, the ministry has carried out nearly 200 negotiations with global vaccine manufacturers for vaccine import and aid. They have committed to providing Vietnam with about 128.9 million doses this year. The ministry will try its best effort to reach 150 million doses from now until the end of the year, ensuring the country’s herd immunity and bring life back to normal.