Vietnam recognises COVID-19 vaccination certificate/passport forms of 72 nations, territories
PSNews - Vietnam is temporarily recognising COVID-19 vaccination certificate/passport forms of 72 countries and territories that have been officially introduced to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed the ministry's Deputy Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang.
The list of these nations and territories having officially introduced their forms to Vietnam is regularly updated on the Foreign Ministry’s portal for consular work. The nations which have not done so yet can contact the representative agencies of Vietnam in their country to legalise and confirm these documents.
The Deputy spokesperson said it is a temporary solution before Vietnam officially recognises foreign COVID-19 vaccination passports. For such recognition, the passports are required to meet the set of criteria for recognition and use of COVID-19 vaccine passports of countries and territories in Vietnam approved by the Government leaders.
Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Viet Nam accepts those approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or those licensed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health for emergency use.
The COVID-19 vaccine passport form must be issued simultaneously in the electronic environment and its paper version must carry an authentication code. Countries and territories involved need to have a high safety level and a widespread vaccination rate.
According to Hang, Vietnamese authorities are considering the expansion of subjects eligible to enter Vietnam to apply at an appropriate time, towards the resumption of international commercial flights as usual. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is urgently discussing with 80 partners to speed up the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine passports.
At the briefing, Deputy spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang also made the comment regarding the operation of direct flights from Vietnam to the US after 20 years of preparation.
Accordingly, she said that the operation of direct flights from Vietnam to the US bears great significance to promoting the multifaceted cooperation between the two nations, especially in economy, trade, tourism, education, and people-to-people exchange.
"This preparation has been made during a long time and with close cooperation between Vietnamese and US authorities,” she said.
The diplomat informed that recently, Vietnam Airlines has received approval from US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for its aviation transport safety plan, paving the way for the airline to be licensed to carry out regular flights between the two countries.
According to her, Vietnamese competent agencies are coordinating to complete final procedures for the carrier to realise its flight plan. They will continue assisting other airlines that wish to and are capable of operating direct flights to the US.
