Viet Nam asks WHO to prioritize vaccine allocation

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested the World Health Organization (WHO) give Viet Nam priority in accessing vaccine in its next allocation round.

Pham made the suggestion in a recent letter addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as Viet Nam is struggling with the fourth and toughest COVID-19 wave linked to Delta variant.

The Government chief also called for more medical supplies and mRNA vaccine technology transfer from the WHO to help the Southeast Asian nation overcome this hard time.

Viet Nam expects WHO would soon send a delegation of experts to assist the country in domestic vaccine research and production, Pham wrote.

In the face of global vaccine shortage, the Vietnamese Government has rolled out a range of measures, including deployment of vaccine diplomacy activities, to acquire vaccines as much and as soon as possible to achieve herd immunity at the earliest.

To date, Viet Nam has received about 23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility, other nations’ assistance, and under signed contracts, according to Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son who is head of the Government's working group on vaccine diplomacy.