Vietnam is seeking to buy COVID-19 vaccine production technology and wants to build a plant to supply the COVAX program, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health said yesterday.
India and South Africa are among developing countries that have been pushing for an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines.
However, even with a surprise US shift last month to support a waiver, WTO talks on the issue on Monday failed to achieve a breakthrough.
“Vietnam would build the plant and would like to receive the patent so it could supply vaccines to COVAX, to other countries as well as to Vietnam,” the ministry said in a statement, following a meeting with COVAX representatives overnight.
Vietnam on Monday also pushed for private procurement of vaccines. The country of about 98 million people has so far received 2.9 million doses, including 2.6 million doses via COVAX.
“Vietnam hopes the COVAX facility will speed up its provision of vaccines to Vietnam,” Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said in the statement.
“Vietnam also hopes international organizations and other countries help it access COVID-19 vaccines,” he said.
The nation is asking Samsung Electronics Co and other foreign companies to find vaccines for their workers, the government Web site reported.
“The government is encouraging companies to find COVID-19 vaccines for their workers,” said Bui Hoang Mai, head of the industrial park management board in Bac Ninh Province, where Samsung operates factories that make its smartphones.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also asked local authorities to find a vaccine supply, the Web site said, citing information from the leader’s visit to a Samsung plant in Bac Ninh.
A representative of Samsung Vietnam was not immediately available for comment.
Authorities in Bac Ninh have ordered factories to set up on-site sleeping arrangements for workers and put in place other procedures to enable operations to continue while containing the virus.
In Bac Giang Province, where Apple Inc’s Vietnamese operations and Samsung suppliers are centered, officials are working to help factories reopen after they were shuttered during the closure of four industrial parks.
The health ministry has sent 200,000 vaccine doses each for Bac Ninh and Bac Giang workers to be administered within a week, the ministry’s Web site said.
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