As part of the ongoing National Assembly session, on October 21 Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, a National Assembly deputy of Vinh Long Province, told his discussion group about the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic in the past two years.

The Health Minister said that this is an unprecedented "war," which has made a profound and comprehensive impact on all aspects of socio-economic life.

"The Party and State insist that immediate economic benefits must be sacrificed to protect people's health and lives," Long said.

According to the Minister of Health, over the past two years of fighting the epidemic, Vietnam has made many difficult decisions, particularly the implementation of social distancing measures, the mobilization of up to 300,000 people, including medical workers, police officers and soldiers to fight the pandemic, and the establishment of emergency rooms and intensive care centers in HCM City and southern provinces.

“When cases increase rapidly in a very short time, the health system cannot cope. Ho Chi Minh City has the best medical foundation compared to other places, but the number of patients is increasing rapidly, and many critically ill patients need emergency care, so we decided to set up an intensive care center and have to deploy even more forces," the head of the health sector said.

From the "unprecedented war", the Health Minister said that Vietnam has learned many valuable lessons.

Regarding the vaccine strategy, Long said the Government's Resolution 21 has "paved the way" for vaccine purchases and since May the purchase of vaccines has been implemented more quickly.

Vietnam has reached agreements for the supply of 191 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines and this number will continue to increase in the coming time.

Nearly 70 million doses of vaccine have been administered so far, with a record day of 2 million doses. Vietnam will consider vaccinating children 12-17 year olds, and then expanding it to children over 3 years old next year, he said.

Through technology transfer of Covid-19 vaccine production and research of domestic vaccines, he said the Ministry of Health is confident that Vietnam can take the initiative in vaccine supply by 2022.

Tran Thuong

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