Vietnam expects to get early Pfizer vaccines for children
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 15 evening had a phone call with Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, during which he proposed that the pharmaceutical firm soon deliver its vaccine to Vietnam to timely immunize children aged five to 11.
He thanked the firm for early delivering a total of 51 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine under the signed contracts to Vietnam to carry out its vaccination campaign.
Vietnam has successfully implemented its COVID-19 vaccination strategy, and switched to a policy of living safely with COVID-19 to support economic recovery efforts, he said.
According to the PM, Vietnam has imported the Pfizer vaccine for children aged from 12 to 17, with more than 90% of the children receiving their second jab.
This has helped the children better protect themselves from virus infection risk and feel safer when they return to school after months of online learning, due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, he said.
The PM informed Bourla about the Government’s decision to purchase 21.9 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged five to 11 and suggested that the firm deliver shipments no later than May 2022.
He also requested that Pfizer regularly provide information on the development of new vaccines, and transfer technology to produce drugs against new strains of the virus.
The Vietnamese government is ready to create the most favourable conditions for Pfizer to deploy transfer and cooperation in the pharmaceutical field in Vietnam, he assured the Pfizer CEO.
For his part, Bourla affirmed that Pfizer will try its best to execute the contract in the coming weeks. He also said that the firm can cooperate with Vietnam in transferring technology to produce COVID-19 drugs.
On this occasion, PM Chinh invited Bourla to visit Vietnam for discussion to promote long-term cooperation between Pfizer and Vietnam
