National Assembly Deputies Call on People to Trust Covid-19 Vaccine

Most Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem,Member of National AssemblyHanoi city speaks. (Photo: Phuong Hoa/VNA)

According to the working program at the First Session, on July 25, the National Assembly discussed in the Hall, assessed the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan, state budget in the first 6 months of the year, solutions to implement the socio-economic development plan, state budget in the last 6 months of 2021 and the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2021-2025 (including the content on strengthening the work of preventing and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming time).

The morning session, chaired by Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai, was broadcast live for people and voters to watch.

Monks and nuns take off their robes and put on blue robes to join the fight against the epidemic on the front lines.

As the first delegate to speak, Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem (Hanoi) said he was happy with the socio-economic development results in the first 6 months of 2021. This is quite a high level compared to many countries in the world.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving very complicatedly, with the drastic, flexible and creative direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, our country has achieved many set goals, the macro economy is stable, the major balance of the economy is ensured, and social security and welfare are focused on.

Although there are still some problems such as import and export goods being congested at times, disbursement of public investment capital is still slow, the labor force in the economy has decreased, and a part of the people still have difficulties in life, especially in industrial zones and some epidemic areas, in general, the results achieved are proud, creating more trust of the people in the Party and the State.

According to the delegate, in the current stage and context, it is necessary to pay more attention to timely support solutions for employees and employers, when people are the center, it will create a new positive impulse to control and repel the epidemic and promote socio-economic development.

Referring to the successes in preventing and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the delegate said that this was due to "the skillful direction of the Party and Government, the consensus and solidarity of the entire people in fighting the pandemic with the motto of not leaving anyone behind".

In that great national unity, there is also a significant contribution from religions, such as religious ceremonies and sermons are all online.

There are 299 volunteers who are monks, nuns, priests, and religious followers in Ho Chi Minh City who have volunteered to join the frontline team against the epidemic at intensive care hospitals, COVID-19 treatment field hospitals No. 10 and No. 12.

This is just the first batch, many people will go in the next batches under the coordination of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health. That is a clear demonstration of the spirit of loving others as if loving yourself of our compatriots.

“For over 2,000 years, Buddhism has always accompanied the nation. When the country was invaded by foreign invaders, monks and nuns took off their kasayas and donned military uniforms to fight the invaders with the people. When there were natural disasters, monks and nuns from all over the country went to affected areas to help people overcome difficulties and stabilize their lives and diseases. During epidemics, monks and nuns took off their kasayas and donned blue robes to rush to the front lines to fight the epidemic, regardless of the danger,” said Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem.

As of July 20, 612 Buddhist volunteers, including 59 monks and nuns and 553 Buddhists, have registered to take care of F0 patients at the field hospital, and many pagodas have volunteered to become field hospitals.

Ventilators, negative pressure rooms, and necessary medical equipment were donated by the Church through the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

In addition to cash support, many pagodas across the country have transferred hundreds of tons of vegetables, fruits and necessities to epidemic areas to support people in quarantine.

In addition, the Central Committee of the Buddhist Sangha and the Executive Committees of the Buddhist Sangha of provinces and cities, along with Buddhists, have contributed hundreds of billions of VND to the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund.

“Through that, I see the need to emphasize the lessons learned from faith and humanity. This is not only a tradition but also the mettle of the Vietnamese people. The more difficult it is, the more we care and promote, which will be the driving force to help us overcome difficulties and firmly walk on the chosen path,” delegate Thich Bao Nghiem concluded.

5K+vaccine - fundamental and sustainable solution

Commenting that the COVID-19 pandemic will certainly continue to rage fiercely, and that the pandemic will have negative impacts on health, life, and production activities, causing costs, losses, disruptions, and difficulties in doing business, and even making it difficult to live in peace, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) said that plans need to develop more scenarios, based on which to build appropriate, affordable, and effective targets.

Both the goals of fighting the epidemic and production and economic development are very important, but fighting the epidemic must be prioritized and done decisively, because if we slacken for just a few days, the epidemic will be out of control. Only by fighting the epidemic well can we ensure people's lives and develop the economy.

National Assembly Delegate of Hanoi City Nguyen Anh Tri speaks. (Photo: Phuong Hoa/VNA)

According to the delegate, the COVID-19 epidemic is not easy to push back, it is still very difficult, hard, costly and no matter what the scenario, we must focus on fighting the epidemic, no matter how difficult it is, we must fight the epidemic because people's lives are above all and first. We must be determined, steadfast in the dual goal and in fighting the epidemic, flexibility is very important.

The Prime Minister has directed that, depending on the epidemic situation in each locality, we should focus on whichever target is appropriate and effective. Isolating F1 and F0 at home or in a centralized quarantine area also needs to be done flexibly. If isolating at home, we must follow the quarantine regulations properly and well.

He suggested sticking to 5K + vaccine, to do 5K well, the spirit of unity and strict compliance is extremely important. The vaccine program is extremely necessary, creating active community immunity. This anti-epidemic solution is sustainable, fundamental and proactive. Please believe that vaccines will help our community have fewer people get sick. If they do get sick, there will be fewer severe cases. If unfortunately they get sick, the mortality rate will be lower.

The government is doing everything possible to have enough vaccines for the people and in the near future, Vietnam will have domestic vaccines. I hope that the people will trust and participate in the vaccination program and hope that this program will be organized in a scientific, reasonable, equal and transparent manner, this delegate called for.

As a doctor, he also recommends that measures such as steaming lemongrass leaves, orange leaves, steaming the nose and throat with Sao Vang balm, drinking lemon juice, honey... that the online community is discussing are also a combined measure to prevent the spread of the virus, not the only measure to treat COVID-19.

Organizing field hospitals in towers to treat COVID-19 patients or planning to mobilize about 10,000 medical staff from all over the country to support Ho Chi Minh City is a good and creative move, however, it needs to be regularly reviewed to adjust appropriately and effectively.

Expressing his appreciation for the contributions of medical forces, police, soldiers, press, people in the transportation supply industry, shippers, service providers, motorbike taxi drivers and those participating in volunteer activities to help people in the epidemic area, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri thanked the people of the provinces and cities for their cooperation and acceptance of hardships to prevent and fight the epidemic; leaders of the provinces, cities and epidemic areas have worked together with the people to fight the epidemic.

He also expressed his gratitude for the National Assembly's sense of responsibility, wisdom and timeliness in many decisions and activities made over the past two years to prevent and combat the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the decisions made right in this historic first session, such as developing a quality, concise plan, shortening the meeting time to the maximum, especially the timely issuance of a resolution on epidemic prevention in the coming period that is reasonable, comprehensive and very practical to serve as a legal basis for the Government and the entire population to effectively combat the pandemic.

Efforts to bring life back to normal as people expect

Sharing at the meeting, delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City) said that the leading city of the country is going through stressful, difficult and complicated days of fighting the epidemic.

But also from that hardship, the city's people deeply feel the warm care, sharing, humanity, comradeship, and compatriots from people and businesses from all over the country.

Agricultural products, vegetables, fruits hastily harvested in the garden, bags of seafood freshly caught in the open sea, bundles of herbs with national sentiment were quickly packaged and quickly transported to the city, along with words of sharing, messages, and love to be delivered to people in difficult circumstances, the weak, the poor, and people in quarantine and blockade areas.

“It is truly indescribable how much love and affection the people, religious compatriots and overseas Vietnamese have sent to share with the city in the past days. Our delegation of the city's National Assembly would like to respectfully thank the people of the whole country for always following the COVID-19 epidemic situation in the city, providing material, spiritual, financial support, medical human resources, adding strength and positive energy to help the city fight the epidemic and protect people's health,” the delegate was moved.

The representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Delegation said that he always remembers and is grateful for the hearts of the people of the whole country. He thanked the media agencies for promptly providing information to the people, to contribute to fighting the epidemic better and more effectively. He thanked the business community, financial institutions, banks, and production and business units, although facing many difficulties due to social distancing, even stopping operations, they still joined hands to fight the epidemic, supporting finance, materials, machinery, equipment, and medical biological products. He thanked the local leaders for sharing with the city to organize flights and trains to support people who wish to return home, contributing to social distancing to fight the epidemic.

“I would like to sincerely thank the team of doctors, nurses, technicians, and volunteer students across the country who participated in the fight against the epidemic in the city. Thank you to the frontline forces: the army, police, and other forces. Thank you to the leaders of the Central Government, the Government, ministries, and branches for always paying attention and directing throughout, urgently supporting many resources for the city and localities with the epidemic to effectively fight the epidemic. Thank you to the National Assembly for having initiatives to shorten the session to focus forces and time on the fight against the epidemic, and thank you very much to the National Assembly for including the content of the resolution on epidemic prevention and control in the general resolution of the National Assembly, and this is an initiative of ours that is very much appreciated,” said delegate Tran Hoang Ngan.

According to the delegate, despite many difficulties and challenges, the city has been making every effort with the highest determination to soon prevent and control the epidemic, bringing life back to normal as people expect./.

Chu Thanh Van