Hanoi spends US$43.6 million to buy Covid-19 vaccines

Hanoi supported VND100 billion (US$4.36 million) for Vietnam Fund for Vaccination Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and would earmark VND1 trillion (US$43.6 million) to buy Covid-19 vaccine for the capital city’s citizens.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh handed over the sum to the Ministry of Finance at the fund debut on June 5 evening.

The fund was set up under a decision of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 26. Speaking at the launching ceremony, PM Chinh expressed his thanks to donors at home and abroad and emphasized that vaccination is a fundamental, long-term, and strategic solution to repel the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fund has received contributions and donation pledges of over VND7.6 trillion (US$329 million) from businesses and other donors since it was established near two weeks ago, according to the Ministry of Finance, which manages the fund.

Several major corporations have committed themselves to contributing around VND6.6 trillion (US$285 million), Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said at the fund debut.

Hanoi supported VND100 billion (US$4.3 million) for Vietnam’s coronavirus vaccine fund. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Minister Phoc said Vietnam aims to secure 150 million doses of vaccines to immunize 75 million of its population this year at an estimated cost of VND25.2 trillion (US$1.1 billion).

The fund will be used for buying Covid-19 vaccines from abroad and for supporting the production of made-in-Vietnam vaccines towards fulfilling the target of inoculating 70% of Vietnam’s 98-million population.

The money donated to the fund represents donors’ community responsibility, so it must be used effectively for epidemic prevention and control missions, the minister stressed.

People can send their ‘COVID NK’ messages from their mobile phones to number 1408 to make donations to the fund.

As guided by the national text-to-donate program, ‘N’ is any number from 1 to 2,000, and ‘K’ stands for the unit of thousand Vietnamese dong. For example, a text message reading ‘COVID 20K’ means a donation of VND20,000 (US$0.87) to the fund.

Vietnam began a Covid-19 vaccination program on March 8 and more than 1.2 million people have been vaccinated nationwide, mainly frontline health workers, of whom over 33,600 have been fully inoculated against Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health.

The ministry confirmed 102 new coronavirus cases at noon on June 6, of which 69 were detected in Bac Giang province, the largest epicenter in Vietnam now. The new cases have taken the country’s total patients to 8,682, including 53 deaths, since early 2020.