Socializing Covid-19 vaccine sources

The work of preventing and fighting the fourth wave of Covid-19 in our country is at its peak. With the simultaneous emergence of many new variants, a faster spread rate, and a shorter incubation period, SARS-CoV-2 is showing its dangerous nature to the community. In the context of the epidemic continuing to develop in a complicated and unpredictable manner, according to medical experts, only a Covid-19 vaccine can bring life back to normal and improve the effectiveness of disease prevention and control.

One of the key tasks and solutions to prevent and control the epidemic in the current period was stated by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the National Online Conference.discuss urgent solutionsThe fight against the Covid-19 pandemic (May 29) is to implement the vaccine strategy. The head of the Government has "opened wide" the door to access the source of the nCoV-2 virus vaccine when emphasizing that all capabilities must be used to purchase the vaccine. To have a source of the vaccine, the Prime Minister said that all measures must be used such as: through diplomacy, businesses, the Government, people, other measures... Along with that, it is necessary to speed up the completion of research and production of vaccines domestically.

Illustration photo.

Along with finding ways to access Covid-19 vaccines, the Prime Minister also noted the need to purchase vaccine production technology from abroad, and assigned relevant units to "use all means to have the technology"...

In a related development, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that so far, the number of vaccine doses approved for import to Vietnam through negotiations is 110 million doses, expected to be supplied in 2021. The Ministry of Health is actively negotiating to ensure the purchase of 150 million doses of vaccine to meet the vaccination needs of the people. Vietnam is one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to sign a contract.buy Covid-19 vaccineof AstraZeneca. Vietnam is also one of 92 countries supported by the COVAX facility with up to 38.9 million doses of vaccine. Recently, the Ministry of Health also negotiated and signed an agreement with Pfizer to purchase 30 million doses of vaccine...

To ensure vaccine security, one of the most important issues is to ensure financial resources. Therefore, the Government and the Prime Minister have decided to establish a Vaccine Fund.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Fund is responsible for managing and coordinating the fund's financial resources to finance and support the purchase, import, research, domestic production and use of Covid-19 vaccines.

The Fund operates not for profit, uses capital for the right purposes and in accordance with the provisions of law, ensuring publicity, transparency, thrift and efficiency.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, up to now, 19 corporations, banking units, general companies, companies, and enterprises have provided financial support to the Vaccine Fund with a total amount of: 470 billion VND; 1 million USD and 5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

The Ministry of Health received support of VND160 billion and 4 million vaccine doses for the Covid-19 vaccine purchase fund, May 21, 2022. Photo: moh.gov.vn

Thus, it can be seen that the viewpoint on epidemic prevention and control at this time has changed somewhat compared to before. If in the early stages, when there was no vaccine to prevent the epidemic, Vietnam's policy was to trace, isolate, distance, quarantine, suppress the epidemic, focus on propaganda to raise awareness among people, and recommend implementing epidemic prevention measures... At this time, the spirit and measures of epidemic prevention and control remain unchanged, however, the Government focuses more on accessing Covid-19 vaccine sources to vaccinate people.

With the proactive, active and effective participation of the Party and State, the work of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 pandemic shows the right direction. In harmony with the Government in the work of preventing and fighting the pandemic, many people wish to contribute money to buy vaccines. That is, they want the Government to implement a socialization policy in buying Covid-19 vaccines. Many people believe that each person contributes money to buy enough doses of vaccine for themselves, each family contributes money to buy vaccines for members, which will reduce the financial burden on the country.

According to calculations, each dose of vaccine costs around 20 USD, equivalent to about 450,000 VND. This amount is not too high for an individual but will be very large if it is 100 million people, and people's participation in socialization will reduce the burden on the national budget in the context of economic difficulties. The government should only vaccinate free of charge for those who are on the front line against the epidemic such as: the military, police, medical staff and the poor, the vulnerable in society... And the priority of vaccination should also follow this order. Agencies and units either use social welfare resources or call on officials and employees to contribute to vaccinating against Covid-19.

Covid-19 vaccination for medical staff fighting the epidemic. Photo: Thanh Cuong

According to many people, although the Government has established a Covid-19 Vaccine Fund with contributions from many corporations, businesses, companies... the work of preventing and fighting the pandemic will take a long time, so the Government's permission to socialize the purchase of vaccines for each individual and each group is also a long-term reality. Or suppose, if the socialization of vaccine purchase is not at 100%, it can be implemented at levels such as: 30-50 or 70%.