Vietnam can carry out tests of 300,000 samples a day
According to the Deputy Minister of Health, currently, the global supply of vaccines is still very limited and the data on the amount of vaccine supplied to Vietnam is based on the negotiation with foreign suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines, so it is not certain how many doses of vaccine Vietnam can obtain.
Foreign suppliers have also not confirmed the amount of the vaccine doses that will be provided for the Southeast Asian country, but they only promised to provide the best possible quantity because it depends on the development of the pandemic of countries around the world. Thanks to our efforts in negotiations with suppliers in the past time, it is expected that by the end of this year, Vietnam will have about 150 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Deputy Minister of Health Professor-Dr. Tran Van Thuan Mr. Thuan said that the Government, the Ministry of Health, and other ministries and agencies have been trying to buy as much Covid-19 vaccine as possible for Vietnam. Simultaneously, the health sector has constantly promoted and improved testing capacity for readiness to promptly respond to the new development of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Covid-19 vaccine fund was established under Vietnamese Prime Minister’s Decision No. 779 on May 26, 2021. The establishment of the fund is appropriate and timely in efforts to prevent and control of this dangerous disease. In addition to supporting and financing the purchase and import of vaccines, the fund is tasked to fund research and domestic vaccine production and the use of Covid-19 vaccines.
Currently, the allocation and vaccination of Covid-19 vaccines must be following the Government’s resolution 21. Moreover, amid the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic, workers and employees in industrial parks are added to the list of priority groups.
Densely populated cities and provinces will also be placed in the priority list for the allocation of Covid-19 vaccines. Regarding vaccination, since before the Covid-19 vaccine came to Vietnam, medical workers had been given adequate training in vaccination. At the same time, the Ministry of Health has given specific instructions on where to organize vaccination in each locality for the best efficiency of immunization.
The Ministry of Health proposed to include more people to the list of priority groups for vaccination, but it is still dependent on how many vaccine doses the country can buy.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, Vietnam had only a few dozen Realtime-PCR testing machines, but now our testing capacity has been increased many times. The country can carry out tests of 300,000 samples a day.
