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HANOI: Vietnam will stick to its strategy of containing COVID-19 rather than rushing to secure the supply of a vaccine that could be financially risky, the head of the country’s coronavirus task force said on Friday (November 6).
Through months of aggressive mass testing, centralized military-administered quarantine, and early border closures, Vietnam has maintained its coronavirus count at just 1,210 cases and has gone more than two months without community transmission.
Thirty-five people have died from COVID-19 in Vietnam, according to official data, and the country has been widely praised for its decisive response in quelling the outbreaks.
READ: Comment: Masks could be a secret behind the success of COVID-19 in Vietnam
“The vaccine is a story for the future,” task force chief and deputy prime minister Vu Duc Dam told a government meeting on Friday.
“The demand is much higher than the supply and we have to pay large deposits to secure our position, which I consider a very high risk and a waste of time and money.”
“We will continue to deal with COVID as we are now,” he said.
In August, as Vietnam battled a new virus outbreak after more than three months without local transmission, Hanoi said it had signed up to buy 50 million to 150 million doses of a Russian vaccine.
Vietnam will also buy from Britain, where it has a partnership to develop a homegrown vaccine with the University of Bristol.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that the pandemic will not end until 2021,” Dam said. “Our homegrown vaccine will enter human trials this month, but will not be available until the end of 2021.”
Vietnam has spent nearly 18 trillion dong ($ 776.7 million) on containing the virus and its impacts, official data shows.
His measures have aimed his economy to recover faster than most.
In September, the government said it was targeting gross domestic product growth of 2.0% to 2.5% this year and 6.7% in 2021.
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