The Vietnamese premier has directed the Ministry of Health to promptly assist four local business associations in procuring vaccines from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid the severe vaccine supply shortage.

In a recent dispatch, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked the health ministry to give assistance to the four business associations that are seeking help in negotiating the COVID-19 vaccine purchase from a supply source in the UAE.

The organizations include the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the Vietnam Electronic Industries Association (VEIA) and the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA). 

In a joint petition to the government late last month, these societies said they have actively sought and secured a large COVID-19 vaccine supply from a business conglomerate in the Middle East country amidst the dearth of vaccines in Vietnam.  

They proposed that the central administration either speed up the vaccination progress or assist businesses in buying vaccines urgently and legally so that they can inoculate their workers for free soon to ensure epidemic prevention while maintaining business operations.   

The associations said that they need support from health authorities and relevant other agencies in evaluation of the vaccine to be purchased as well as in import procedures.

“The health minister should immediately conduct negotiations with the vaccine supplier, and the ministry is responsible for licensing and preserving the vaccine as well as organizing inoculation,” the PM said in his dispatch in response to the proposal.

Currently, Vietnam is accelerating its vaccination campaign that aims to inoculate 70 percent of its 98 million population to reach herd immunity against the novel coronavirus.

The campaign needs to have 150 million vaccine doses but the country has so far received only about 17.5 million doses in total from different sources, including COVAX Facility, contractual purchases, and donations, the health ministry said.

As of Sunday morning, around 8.53 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered nationwide, with the number of people receiving the first and second shots nearing 7.67 million and some 863,000, respectively, the ministry reported.

Since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, Vietnam has registered 197,175 patients, including 194,837 domestic and 2,338 imported cases, of which 62,332 have recovered and 3,016 have died.

Among the domestic infections, as many as 193,267 cases, or 99.2 percent, have been recorded since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave erupted in Vietnam.

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