Vietnam asks UK for Covid vaccine production technology

By Phuong Vu   May 19, 2021 | 07:29 pm PT
Vietnam asks UK for Covid vaccine production technology
A medical worker prepares a Covid-19 vaccine shot in HCMC, May 11, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa.
Vietnam has sought technologies for Covid-19 vaccine production from the U.K., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in a release.

Foreign affairs minister Bui Thanh Son, during wide-ranging discussions on Wednesday with British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab, congratulated the U.K. for its achievements in the coronavirus fight, including becoming one of the first countries in the world to roll out vaccines, and said it should consider transferring vaccine technologies to Vietnam.

Vietnam is currently using the Covid vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca for its mass vaccination program.

Speaking about international affairs, Raab said his country would like to cooperate with Vietnam in multilateral forums, especially since the latter is a member of the U.N. Security Council for 2020-21.

In a reference to the disputes in the South China Sea, he stressed that international laws must be obeyed, including the U.N. Convention for the Law of the Sea.

Both sides agreed to make sure that the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), expected to be hosted by the U.K. in November, is successful.

Last week the WHO representative in Vietnam, Kidong Park, said his organization is considering a request from a Vietnamese entity to transfer technology to produce mRNA vaccines. mRNA is used to produce certain Covid vaccines like those by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, while AstraZeneca uses the viral vector technology.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan has said some countries have agreed to provide Vietnam with technologies for Covid vaccine production, including Japan.

The country has received over 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through contracts and global vaccine access mechanism Covax.

So far over a million people have been vaccinated.

The latest Covid-19 wave has seen 1,678 new cases in 29 cities and provinces.

 
 
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