HANOI – Russia has agreed to provide Vietnam with 20 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V this year, Vietnamese Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said yesterday.
The Vietnam news agency (VNA) reported that the minister said this after a working session with the Russian Direct Investment Fund regarding the Covid-19 vaccine.
Long said the Vietnamese Health Ministry had approved the Russian vaccine for use earlier this year in March, it said.
Since then, the ministry has proactively negotiated with the Russian side to secure the vaccine as soon as possible to serve the country’s inoculation drive, according to the official.
To ensure vaccine security in the years to come, the ministry has viewed cooperation in vaccine production and transfer of vaccine production technologies as a crucial task.
The VNA also reported Long as saying that the ministry has assigned its units to negotiate and reach a consensus with partners in this regard.
The Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1 (Vabiotech) is the ministry’s first unit to join hands with the Russia side and expects to begin bottling the Russian vaccine from July, with a monthly capacity of five million doses.
“This is an important step for Russia to transfer its vaccine production technology to Vietnam in the coming time,” he said.
Since last month, the ministry and relevant ministries and agencies have actively engaged in talks to get access to Covid-19 vaccine sources, Long said, noting that his ministry is making every effort to purchase more vaccines.
Although Vietnam is trying to get access to Covid-19 vaccine sources to speed up its vaccination roll-out, the supply will come under roadmaps set by producers and distributors, as the country has effectively adopted Covid-19 prevention and control measures, Long said. – Bernama, June 3, 2021
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