Chairman and CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla was committed to speeding up the supply of COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 in Vietnam during his phone talks with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday.

This is the second conversation between PM Chinh and chairman Bourla since the fourth wave of COVID-19 broke out in Vietnam last April.

The premier thanked Pfizer for cooperating effectively with Vietnamese agencies over the past time, which has contributed to the rapid implementation of vaccination campaigns in the country.

The American pharmaceutical company has completed the supply of 51 million vaccine doses to Vietnam as requested by PM Chinh during their previous phone call in August last year.

Given the ongoing pandemic in Vietnam, the prime minister asked chairman Bourla to help accelerate the delivery of 22 million doses of vaccine for children aged five to 11 in the Southeast Asian country.

The contract should be completed in April or May at the latest, he added.

The jabs will provide better protection for children against the virus as well as facilitate the safe reopening of local schools.

PM Chinh asked Pfizer to regularly update Vietnam on the development of new vaccines as well as provide medicine against new strains of the virus in an early manner.

The Vietnamese government is willing to create favorable conditions for Pfizer to cooperate with, and transfer its technology to, Vietnam in the pharmaceutical field.

Chairman Bourla said he will exert the best efforts to speed up the supply of COVID-19 for children aged five to 11 in Vietnam in the coming weeks.

He added that Pfizer could cooperate with Vietnam in the transfer of COVID-19 medicine production technology.

On this occasion, PM Chinh invited the Pfizer executive to Vietnam as his guest to discuss and promote a long-term bilateral cooperation plan.

Vietnam previously purchased Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate children aged 12 to 17.

Nearly 96 percent of children in the age range have received their first dose, while about 90 percent have been jabbed twice.

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