Businesses to receive support in accessing global vaccine supply: PM

Several businesses and organizations have recently proposed that they are allowed to negotiate and import Covid-19 vaccines. They have also requested that they are allowed to retain a certain amount of vaccine doses after contributing to the Covid-19 vaccine fund.

PM Chinh on Tuesday asked the health ministry to decide on how it would prioritize vaccine access for the contributors to the fund.

The fund accepts contributions in cash or in kind, as Covid-19 vaccine doses.

While the health ministry has been assigned to be the channel for importing Covid-19 vaccines, it also encourages localities and businesses to seek out vaccine sources themselves, health minister Nguyen Thanh Long had said at a May meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

Additionally, only companies approved for importing and selling vaccines can try to source Covid-19 vaccines. Those capable of gaining access to Covid-19 vaccine sources can do so either through the health ministry or the aforementioned vaccine import companies.

The national Covid-19 vaccine fund has received over VND8.2 trillion ($357.4 million) as contributions from over 486,000 people and organizations.

Vietnam has so far administered around five million Covid-19 vaccine shots, fully vaccinating nearly 450,836 people.

It seeks to vaccinate 70 percent of its 96 million population by April next year.