Russia has made a pledge of 20 million doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam in 2021, Vietnamese Ministry of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on June 2.
| Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: AFP |
Long informed local media about the Russian vaccine after a meeting in Hanoi with representatives of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), saying that Vietnam asked Russia to buy Sputnik V in August 2020 and the ministry licensed the vaccine in March 2021.
In addition, the Vaccine and Biological Production Company No.1 (VABIOTECH) is scheduled to pack the Sputnik V vaccine in Vietnam from July 2021 with a designed capacity of five million doses per month.
The move is considered an important step for the technology transfer to Vietnam. Long said the local agencies and businesses will promote the negotiations. “Russian partner absolutely supports our proposal,” he emphasized.
On the same day, Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent a letter to Russia's President Vladimir Putin to ask for further support in vaccine supply and tech transfer.
According to a survey of more than 12,000 respondents in 11 countries conducted by global public opinion and data company YouGov in 2020, Vietnam is among few countries that have high trust in Russia’s vaccine against Covid-19. The strongest indicator of trust in Russia’s vaccine Sputnik V was recorded in Mexico, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
As part of efforts to speed up the vaccine import, the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced a list of 36 companies eligible to import Covid-19 vaccines on June 2.
| Vietnam's Covid-19 cases. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu |
Regarding infections, Vietnam confirmed 229 Covid-19 cases on June 2, including 157 from Bac Giang epicenter. As of June 2, Vietnam has confirmed 7,732 cases, including 49 deaths.
With an aim to soon resume the operation of companies in suspended industrial parks (IPs) in Bac Giang, South Korea’s Ambassador to Vietnam Park Noh Wan on June 2 met Secretary of the Bac Giang Party’s Committee Duong Van Thai to seek for the local authorities’ support in the issue. The ambassador said he hoped the local government’s countermeasures will be effective, helping bring companies, including South Korean ones back to operations soon, Bac Giang Newspaper reported.
Bac Giang is home to more than 320 South Korean companies with a total investment of US$1.4 billion, employing nearly 40,000 people and contributing to about 25% of the province’s industrial production values.
The widespread transmission among workers forced Bac Giang to suspend since May 18 four IPs namely Dinh Tram, Van Trung, Quang Chau, and Song Khe-Noi Hoang that house roughly 500 companies with 136,000 employees.
