From now on, the Ministry of Health will accelerate the prevention and combat of COVID-19 with a strong campaign to ensure a safe Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, affirmed Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.
The official was speaking at a teleconference held on December 23 with representatives from all 63 provinces and cities across the nation, connected across over 700 venues.
Professor, Dr. Long said that Vietnam has essentially successfully controlled COVID-19. However, problems related to the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the UK are of great concern to scientists. It has been estimated that the new strain has the potential to increase transmission by up to 70%.
The minster said experts are closely monitoring the new strain of the coronavirus and have yet to see an impact on current COVID-19 vaccines.
“This mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus only increases transmission, but does not increase the severity of the disease. Despite concerns, we must deal with this strain very calmly,” emphasised Long, adding that Vietnam has not discovered the new strain in the country yet.
The Ministry of Health has directed hospitals to strengthen the genetic sequencing of patient samples, especially those entering from Europe to see how high the possibility of transmission is in terms of the ability of the new strain to enter Vietnam.
Long affirmed that from today, Dec 23, the Ministry of Health has stepped up prevention and control of COVID-19 to a new level to ensure that people can enjoy the upcoming Tet season in safety.
Regarding vaccine production, Minister Long informed that in recent months, under the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, the related units have stepped up research, testing and production of potential COVID-19 vaccines.
Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long speaking at the meeting. (Photo: NDO/Thien Lam)
“We are officially testing the Nano Covax vaccine produced by NANOGEN since December 17.
All volunteers who participated in the phase 1 of the trials are safe. We still closely monitor these cases,” said the minister.
According to Long, two other companies, IVAC and VABIOTECH, will launch their clinical trials for their vaccines around March 2021 and they will be tested in both the north and south to ensure a national representation. With POLYVAX, the Ministry of Health is also promoting research and cooperation with a number of countries such as China and Russia so that Vietnam can have another trial soon.
Following the Prime Minister’s view, in parallel to finding vaccine sources from overseas companies, Vietnam must focus on research to produce its own vaccines. “According to scientific estimates and forecasts, up to now, there is no vaccine that provides effective long-term protection. Therefore, we must be proactive in ensuring a local source of vaccines for local people, so we have to do our own vaccine research and production,” the minister said.
Currently, the Ministry of Health is working with all mechanisms, companies and countries participating in the COVAX mechanism to seek a possible COVID-19 vaccine for Vietnam. However, even when Vietnam has a vaccine, the prevention and control of COVID-19 should still be comprehensively carried out, Long affirmed.
He warned that during winter-spring and at the end of the year, COVID-19’s risk of penetration is very high. Therefore, localities, especially provinces with border lines need to pay great attention to and strengthen illegal entry prevention.
The minister asked for strengthening testing monitoring, especially at medical facilities. In particular, localities need to prepare for the worst case scenario by strengthening their preparation for any COVID-19 outbreak, training health workers, preparing a plan for large-scale sampling, and ensuring preventive measures.
Medical facilities were asked to raise their COVID-19 response to the highest level from now on.
Source: Nhan Dan Online
