Vietnam seeks Covid vaccines, technology from France

At a meeting Wednesday with French ambassador to Vietnam, Nicolas Warnery, he also hoped French businesses and organizations would support Vietnam by providing medical equipment, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He called for stepping up bilateral cooperation in medicine, especially through sharing their experiences in combating the epidemic.

Warnery said he would cooperate with French authorities to boost the progress for completing the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and to seek ways to aid Vietnam with more Covid-19 vaccines, among other assistance.

France provided 672,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam through the global vaccine access mechanism Covax on September 14.

Vietnam has bought or received donations of around 45 million doses so far.

Over 28 million people have received at least one shot, with around seven million being fully vaccinated.

The country aims to secure 150 million doses to cover 70 percent of its population by next year.