Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính at a government meeting on Sunday. —VNA/ VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has ordered ministries and authorities to calculate the demand for COVID-19 treatment drugs and prepare to deal with any unexpected situations that may arise.

The Ministry of Health must support domestic COVID-19 drug manufacturers, create favourable conditions for production while putting the safety and health of people first and foremost, he said during a government meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control on Sunday.

The PM emphasised that the purchase and sale of COVID-19 drugs must be made public, transparent, and in accordance with the market mechanisms.

Ministries and agencies have discussed and evaluated the research and technology transfer for the production of vaccines and drugs to treat COVID-19 in Việt Nam.

Among measures to prevent and control the pandemic, vaccines, treatment drugs, and people's awareness are fundamental and very important factors, the PM said.

The Government has drastically directed and implemented the vaccine strategy for months and has recently added the treatment drug directions, he said, adding that research on drugs to treat COVID-19 has been conducted in Việt Nam since 2020.

A large volume and scale of work needs to be done in a short time and it is unprecedented, so it is very challenging, he said.

The PM highlighted that the guidelines and policies of the Government are consistent, drastic, and proactive and ordered that they must be done in a proper, science-based, and effective way with priority to ensure safety for people.

“We must immediately draw lessons from the vaccination campaign, from preservation and transportation to the vaccination and issues related to the expiry date of the vaccines," the Prime Minister said.

According to the Ministry of Health, Việt Nam will receive a total of 211 million doses of vaccines by the end of 2021.

As of December 3, more than 150 million doses have arrived. Currently, the country is transferring technology to research and test COVID-19 vaccines, including NanoCovax, COVIVAC, ARCT-154, HIPRA, Sputnik V, Shionogi and some vaccines from Cuba and India.

The country aims to have all eligible people aged 18 and above fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by year-end at the latest.

The PM also ordered ministries and agencies to have a plan in place to administer booster shots for people aged 50 and above and other priority groups and based on the pandemic situation in different localities.

He also pushed the drive to vaccinate children aged from 12-18 at the meeting with ministries and agencies which discussed the research, and transfer of technology to produce vaccines and drugs to treat COVID-19 as well as the import of vaccines and drugs to treat COVID-19.

PM Chính requested the development of proactive, timely, science-based, effective, and safe plans to ensure sufficient vaccines and push the inoculation progress.

He said it is also important to have vaccination plans for 2022 and have relevant authorities complete the report, analysis, and opinion of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control regarding the vaccination for children aged five to 12 to submit it to authorities.

The pandemic has developed in a complicated way and there is probable that new variants will appear, therefore the pandemic prevention and control strategy is not only for a two-year period but must be longer, he said.

He ordered the Ministry of Health to coordinate with localities to deliver the second shot for all eligible people, review and assess the issues in vaccination in an objective and honest manner to provide accurate and timely information to people. The vaccination must be done with the health of people being the first and foremost priority, he said.

The PM said it is important to ensure vaccines are allocated and delivered properly. If a locality lacks the necessary conditions to implement vaccination, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Defence will support it in terms of human resources to speed up the vaccination to ensure safety and effectiveness.

Earlier on Saturday PM Chính approved an instruction on COVID-19 control and prevention.

The Dispatch no. 1677/CĐ-TTg was issued to address the complicated pandemic situation in multiple localities and the new Omicron variant that has been detected in several countries around the world.

So far, there have been no Omicron cases recorded in Việt Nam.

The dispatch, which was sent to ministries, provincial and city people’s committees, acknowledges that the pandemic outbreak in the country is basically under control, two months following the Government's Resolution no. 128 on "Safe and flexible adaptation and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic".

To further these efforts in pandemic control, socio-economic development, as well as ensuring people’s livelihoods, the PM ordered localities to continue reinforcing Resolution No. 128, while proactively assessing the actual situation to deploy appropriate measures.

These measures should not be an obstacle or barrier to business and production, and the life of the people.  

He added that ministries, ministerial-level and governmental departments, provincial and city people's committees need to focus on socio-economic development, while strictly implementing the 5K measures, accelerating the vaccination programme, and ensuring pandemic prevention and control measures as issued by the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control and the Health Ministry. — VNS