Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn speaks at a meeting of the government's working group on vaccine diplomacy on Wednesday.— Photo thanhnien.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vaccine diplomacy is very important and urgent at this time, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn told a meeting of the government's working group on vaccine diplomacy on Wednesday.

Sơn, who is the head of the working group, said with utmost efforts, the country is expected to receive about 16-17 million more doses of vaccines this month. He underlined the need to keep trying to get more vaccines.

It is necessary to continue promoting vaccine advocacy at all levels, especially high-level, within bilateral and multilateral frameworks and urging vaccine manufacturers to speed up the supply to Việt Nam as well as calling on partners with excess capacity to cede or lend, he said, adding that the working group should explore new and potential vaccines being developed for early access, study and immediately promote the vaccine access and mobilisation plan for 2022.

Sơn emphasised that it is the policy of the Party and Government that vaccination is provided free of charge for the entire population and for foreigners living and working in Vietnam.

He asked members of the working group and 94 Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to continue to cooperate more closely, with greater determination and efforts to contribute to the common efforts of the whole Party and the people in the fight to repel the pandemic and bring the country back to new normal.

Participants at the meeting discussed and agreed on many solutions suitable to the current situation in order to further improve the efficiency of mobilisation, and solve issues relating to procedures for transporting and receiving vaccines, medicine and equipment to bring to the country as quickly as possible.

The meeting focused on reviewing the results of vaccine diplomacy over the past three weeks since the group was established, and agreed on measures to further promote the mobilisation for vaccines, medicines, and medical equipment serving the pandemic prevention and control in the current period. — VNS