Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam (centre) at the meeting. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam asked localities to conduct vaccinations as scheduled, avoiding slow progress in inoculations if the vaccine is available. 

This is the request made by the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control at a meeting yesterday morning. 

Localities and enterprises, who can purchase and import COVID-19 vaccines by themselves, will be provided with the best possible conditions to transport them to Việt Nam, according to the committee.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) also recommended that organisations need to be careful when seeking vaccines, avoiding cases in which the manufacturer commits to selling them but delivers in 2022, not this year.

MoH was required to urgently add priority vaccination groups, including those working in production, commercial and service establishments, to ensure the twin goal of containing the COVID-19 pandemic and reviving the economy.

MoH was also asked to prepare a free expanded immunisation campaign and on-demand paid vaccination service after priority groups are inoculated.

At the meeting, the standing committee agreed to provide the best conditions for made-in-Vietnam COVID-19 vaccine trials.

If the trials achieve good results, the homemade vaccine would be submitted to competent agencies for emergency-use approval.

A large-scale vaccine plant is expected to come into operation by the end of 2021 or early 2022, as a number of businesses have invested in factories and sought domestic and international vaccine production technology.

The Vaccine and Biological Production No 1 Company (Vabiotech) is also urgently to receive the technology transfer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to be able to start bottling and packaging the Sputnik V vaccine in Việt Nam starting as soon as July, MoH said.

MoH, agencies and the Government are working closely to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 by the end of this year and create favourable conditions for domestic vaccine manufacturers, and at the same time participate in the global vaccine supply chain.

According to MoH, Việt Nam has access to two types of COVID-19 vaccines, namely Astra Zeneca and Sputnik V.

The country is expected to receive a number of vaccines that have been approved by WHO. — VNS