Vaccines doses

Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine

Vu Tuan Cuong, director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, said that the Advisory Council for the issuance of drug registration certificates of the Ministry of Health had agreed to ask for the Ministry of Health’s urgent approval of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

The Drug Administration of Vietnam has also asked related companies to prepare documents to submit to relevant agencies to ask for urgent licences for other Covid-19 vaccines of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and other brands.

On May 18, Vietnam signed an agreement to buy 31 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. It is expected that this company will provide Vietnam with 31 million doses of the vaccine in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

The Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer (USA) developed with its partner BioNTech (Germany), using mRNA technology, was the first Covid-19 vaccine approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The manufacturer says the vaccine has up to 95% effective protection. Recent studies by the company and scientists show that the Pfizer vaccine is effective against the two variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the British and the South African strains, besides the old strain.

The Ministry of Health is negotiating with many vaccine providers in order to buy 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 to immunize 75% of Vietnam’s population.

In addition to the 31 million doses of Pfizer, 38.9 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine via COVAX, the Ministry of Health has also registered with COVAX to purchase more vaccines under a cost-sharing mechanism.

In November 2020, Vietnam signed a deal with Astrazeneca to purchase about 30 million more doses.

On June 2, Russia agreed to provide Vietnam with 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in 2021. On June 4, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long worked online with Johnson & Johnson, asking the company to supply Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.

Nguyen Lien

Australia is considering the possibility of supplying more vaccines to Vietnam, Switzerland has committed to speeding up delivery of 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine to HCM City, and France will consider the exchange and transfer of vaccine production technology.

Australia is considering the possibility of supplying more vaccines to Vietnam, Switzerland has committed to speeding up delivery of 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine to Ho Chi Minh City, and France will consider the exchange and transfer of vaccine production technology.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long met recently with the ambassadors of Australia, Switzerland and France in Vietnam regarding cooperation in epidemic prevention, especially the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.

Australian Ambassador Mobyn Mudie said that the Australian Government has allocated 130 million Australian dollars through the COVAX mechanism. For Vietnam, the total funding is 40 million Australian dollars for three years to buy vaccines against Covid-19. Australia will also assist Vietnam in terms of implementation of vaccinations, and provision of professional and technical advice through UNICEF.

The Australian Government is actively implementing support solutions to provide more vaccines to Vietnam. “Australia is producing vaccines against Covid-19. We hope that after half a year, we can supply vaccines directly to Vietnam,” said Ms. Mudie.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that Vietnam plans to vaccinate children aged 12-18. The Ministry of Health proposed using 13.5 million out of 40 million Australian dollars to buy Pfizer vaccines for children.

Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam Ivo Siebber.

Ivo Siebber, Ambassador of Switzerland to Vietnam, said that his country has contributed funds to buy three million doses of vaccine for the COVAX mechanism and provided technical support to many developing countries. Swiss pharmaceutical companies in Vietnam have affirmed their readiness to support Vietnam, especially in epidemic prevention activities, including access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said he hoped that the two pharmaceutical companies DKSH and Zuellig Pharma will speed up the supply of vaccines to Vietnam. Zuellig Pharma has been authorized by Moderna to deliver 5 million doses of vaccine to Vietnam. The authorities of Ho Chi Minh City have discussed with the Ministry of Health a purchase of 5 million doses.

“We hope that Moderna vaccine, through Zuellig Pharma, will soon arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, the city with the highest population in Vietnam and the highest risk of an outbreak,” Minister Long said.

Ambassador Siebber emphasized that Zullig Pharma and DKSH would continue to work with the Ministry of Health to find the fastest way to bring the Moderna vaccine to Vietnam.

French Ambassador Nicolas Warnery said that Sanofi and a number of other French pharmaceutical companies are currently researching and testing a Covid-19 vaccine, now in phase 3.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said he hoped that France would cooperate in technology exchange and transfer and help Vietnam in vaccine development and production.

Ambassador Warnery affirmed that Vietnam’s proposals are being studied by French agencies. He also proposed importing Johnson & Johnson vaccines and vaccinating the French community in Vietnam, with priority given to those over 55 years old.

Nguyen Lien

PVOIL donates an ambulance to help Kim Dong district fight COVID-19 (Photo: PetroVietnam )

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has donated 30 billion VND (1.3 million USD) to the COVID-19 vaccine fund in a bid to join hands with the nation to fight the pandemic as well as ensure social welfare and people’s wellbeing.

Following the directions of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the policy of purchase of vaccines against COVID-19 for the people using the state budget and other legal financial sources, the Government issued a resolution on COVID-19 vaccine purchase and use. Per the resolution, 150 million doses of vaccines will be bought for the injection of about 75 million people. It is estimated to cost some 25.2 trillion VND (1.08 billion USD). Of the total, about 16 trillion VND is expected to come from the central budget, while the remaining 9.2 trillion VND will be sourced from the local budgets and contributions by businesses and organisations.

In order to meet the urgent requirements of pandemic prevention and control, and speed up access to buying and importing vaccines for large-scale vaccination, the Ministry of Finance has asked for Government permission to set up a COVID-19 vaccine fund. The fund aims to receive funding from domestic and foreign organisations and individuals, as well as other legal capital sources for the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19.

To join hands with such efforts and implement its corporate responsibility , PetroVietnam has decided to donate 30 billion VND (1.3 million USD) to the COVID-19 vaccine fund. Of the sum, 5 billion VND was from the mother company PetroVietnam, 10 billion VND from the PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV GAS), and 5 billion VND from each of the Vietsovpetro joint venture, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR), and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power).

PVEV grants aid to Bac Giang province (Photo: PetroVietnam)

In addition to the above-said units, PetroVietnam will continue to call on its other members to support the vaccine fund.

On the occasion, the group also earmarked 2 billion VND which was raised from its staff to assist the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, which are the nation’s current hotspots of COVID-19 outbreaks, in the fight against the pandemic.

Its member units and trade union also donated hundreds of millions of VND and items to support front-line medical staff and localities in the effort.

Earlier, to protect the health of 56,000 oil and gas workers amid the complicated developments of the pandemic, PetroVietnam’s trade union offered its members 2.8 billion VND to buy medical supplies and necessities for COVID-19 prevention and control.

So far, staff of the oil and gas sector donated over 70 billion VND to the fight against the pandemic.

The number of domestically-transmitted COVID-19 cases in Vietnam has risen to 4,621 cases, with 24 patients confirmed in the past 12 hours to 6am on May 27, according to the Ministry of Health. Of the new cases, 23 were recorded in Bac Giang province, and one in Lang Son.

As many as 3,051 domestic cases have been logged since the nation was hit by the fourth COVID-19 wave on April 27. Another case was added to the imported infection tally on May 27 morning, raising the imported count of the outbreak to 1,490.

Report from the ministry’s Medical Examination Administration showed that the country has seen 2,853 recoveries and 45 deaths related to the disease.

Since the pandemic has become more complicated, people nationwide are advised to strictly follow the Ministry of Health’s 5K message: khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering), and khai bao y te (health declaration)./.

A vaccination station in Luang Prabang, Laos (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Hanoi – Laos and Malaysia are working on their COVID-19 vaccination efforts in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic.

The Lao Ministry of Health on June 12 said there were 712,793 locals or 9.7 percent of the population getting the first shot of COVID-19 vaccines and 385,921 or 5.26 percent fully vaccinated with two shots.

On June 13, the country logged six new infections in three localities, consisting of five domestic and one imported cases.

To date, the national tally has hit 1,996 cases, with 1,862 recoveries and three deaths.

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, the government has introduced an initiative dubbed the Public-Private Partnership Industrial COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PIKAS) to cater for the manufacturing sector.

According to the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti), as “Phase Four” of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), PIKAS will begin on June 16 with on-site vaccination at designated factories and industrial locations.

In a related movement, a call centre has been set up to contact individuals who did not show up for their vaccination appointment. Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the initiative began on June 12 at the vaccination centre in Kampung Ampang Indah Community Hall, Ampang, where seven telephone operators had been trained for the purpose.

The pilot project involved 177 individuals in three categories: those who have received appointment dates in the MySejahtera app but did not provide feedback, those absent for their second dose, and individuals who failed to show up for their first jab.

VNA