(VOVWORLD) - During an official visit to Switzerland last Sunday, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited WHO headquarters in Geneva and met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The WHO Director-General said the WHO backs Vietnam’s proposal of becoming a regional hub of vaccine manufacturing.
 President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 28. (Photo: VNA) |
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam has had success in pandemic prevention and socio-economic recovery with support from the international community, including the WHO, and the unity of its people. Vietnam has received vaccines from the WHO’s COVAX Facility and carried out a safe, effective vaccination program.
President Phuc told the WHO leader that Vietnam has shifted to a strategy of safe, flexible adaptation to the pandemic to simultaneously pursue socio-economic recovery and development. He asked the WHO, GAVI, and the COVAX Facility to help Vietnam improve its medical capacity and vaccination coverage.
He asked COVAX to allocate COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam, as much as possible and as soon as possible, along with medical supplies to support vaccination. President Phuc also asked for support for Vietnam becoming a hub for m-RNA vaccine technology transfer and vaccine production in the Western Pacific region.
Mr. Phuc asked the WHO to provide technical assistance for Vietnam’s home-grown COVID-19 vaccine Nano Covax to join its global clinical trial program and coordinate the observance of International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on December 27.
The WHO Director General said he is impressed with the efforts and successes of Vietnam in the COVID-19 fight and socio-economic recovery, and that its experience can provide valuable lessons for the international community.
He supports Vietnam’s initiative to become a regional vaccine production hub and he will talk to the WHO’s technical departments about the possibility of NanoCovax trials.
Mr. Grebreyesus also agreed to issue a message on the occasion of the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on December 27. He said the WHO will hold a special meeting to discuss the possibility of a global pandemic control treaty to prevent similar disasters in the future, and hopes Vietnam will support the idea.