Health Ministry negotiates to buy COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson

Thứ Sáu, 04/06/2021, 19:30

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long held an online working session with representatives of Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company on the morning of June 4 to discuss the import of COVID-19 vaccine from the firm into Vietnam.

Vietnam targets herd immunity with COVID-19 by early 2022

Minister Long shared that the country is keen on gaining access to vaccines as soon as possible in order to serve the needs of the people. He therefore expressed hope that Johnson & Johnson would arrange to supply COVID-19 vaccine doses and co-operate in outsourcing and technology transfer to establish a local vaccine factory in the near future.

Currently, several major Vietnamese groups aspire to engage in the global vaccine supply chain, Minister Long emphasised, adding that the nation is also one of more than 40 countries that can produce vaccines to serve its own domestic vaccination needs. As a result of this, the vaccine production experience of Vietnamese factories is guaranteed.

“Vietnam's National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for vaccines has also been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) after meeting its standards. Therefore, Vietnam highly wants Johnson & Johnson to transfer its technology to help the nation produce vaccines domestically," Minister Long said.

In terms of Johnson & Johnson's ability to supply COVID-19 vaccines, the company's representative stated that it has joined the COVAX mechanism with a commitment to supply 200 million doses by the end of 2021.

Moving forward, they are fully committed to redoubling efforts to speed up the supply of vaccines through the COVAX mechanism, thereby ensuring that the country is able to access Johnson & Johnson's vaccine as soon as possible.

The company's representative also said that it plans to apply for a license for a COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam. Simultaneously, the company will study the possibility of transferring vaccine production technology to the nation.

Recently the country has been in the process of urgently licensing three COVID-19 vaccines, including those from AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm.

The Vietnamese COVID-19 vaccine campaign initially started on March 8 using AstraZeneca's vaccine. To date, more than 1.1 million doses have been administered, with more than 30,000 people receiving two shots of the vaccine.

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