Covid-19: Does Vietnam buy vaccines from China and Russia?

When the race to produce vaccines in the world enters the sprint phase, a question arises, which vaccines will be chosen by order by country and why?

Britain just became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine and is preparing to give those on the priority list in December this year. But a few months earlier, Russia and China even announced injections to the public, although a third-phase clinical trial was not yet available. They also promoted to other countries.

In the ‘thirst’ for vaccines for early vaccinations, will the Vietnamese government and other countries buy vaccines from these two countries or will they wait for other vaccines to be approved?

Speaking to Vietnamese BBC News, an anonymous doctor in Hanoi said his hospital has not received any instructions or heard of a plan to buy vaccines from China. But surely if given the option, hospitals in Vietnam will not buy Chinese vaccines.

“The Vietnamese mentality of the past so far is that they don’t trust China, especially when it comes to health. The strange thing is that although the Vietnamese still use traditional Chinese medicine, in hospitals, there is absolutely none. What kind of Chinese medicine is on the medicine list. “

“If the government, for some reason, buys Chinese vaccines and distributes them to hospitals, maybe the hospital will give them free to poor patients. Those who can buy vaccines on their own will probably only choose between English, American.”

“Recently, in my hospital, there was a Taiwanese who was offering medicine. This person said that all hospitals must have a hard time proving that it is Taiwanese, not Chinese, medicine in order to sell it.” added the doctor.

Dr Phan Dinh Hiep in Australia also admits that he does not trust Chinese and Russian medicines, not only for the Vietnamese but in many other countries as well.

“One thing to keep in mind is that a vaccine that comes first is not necessarily the last successful vaccine. Because after phase 3, we still have to go through stage 4, which is to inject into the body and see if there are any complications. How long the protection lasts. “

“The vaccines from Russia and China have not yet tested phase 3, but they have been widely injected into humans and declared 95% effective. But actually, you need to have verification from medical authorities.”

“People do not like Chinese and Russian vaccines because of the old mentality. They believe that reliability and safety are not high.”

“The scientific documents that China and Russia have published on the Covid vaccine are not valid. Right now, in the Sinovac (China) Covid vaccine trial, someone died in Brazil. I am not saying that the vaccine is original.” This is the cause of this death, but it must be something we take note of. “

Dr Hiep said that due to the emergency situation, the vaccine could be widely injected in the second half of December 2020 in some countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, where there are significant financial contributions to the vaccine war. Some poorer countries, where vaccines are more difficult to access like Vietnam, may have to buy a little later, but they also only have to wait 6-10 months.

According to Dr. Hiep, Australia has spent many billions of dollars ordering millions of vaccine supplies to inject vaccines early for its own people, but has little capacity to buy vaccines from Russia and China.

“For poorer countries that don’t have early access to vaccines like Vietnam, it will be a little late, but safety is better. I think we should wait. I hope the Vietnamese government will buy a good vaccine for the people. But not for the good. cheap to buy vaccines at a cheap price, not safe, the damage is very unpredictable. “

In mid-October, at a regular press conference of the Vietnam Foreign Ministry, spokesman Le Thi Thu Hang said that Vietnam had ordered vaccines from various partners “including vaccines from Russia and the United Kingdom.”

And that “the delivery of the vaccine depends on the progress of the documentation of the manufacturers of the clinical trials, as well as the protocol of testing the vaccine before its launch.”

Ms Hang did not provide details on when the Russian Sputnik V vaccine will be delivered and how many doses are expected. It also did not say whether or not to import Chinese vaccines.

Meanwhile, speaking before the National Assembly on October 6, Vice Premier Vu Duc Dam said that Vietnam was “working with Russian and Chinese partners” on the issue of purchasing the Covid-19 vaccine. Mr. Dam did not elaborate on how much and when to order.

Mr. Dam also admitted that it is difficult to buy vaccines in advance because demand exceeds production capacity. Countries that want to buy in advance have to deposit a very high price and nothing is certain.

Vietnam is currently working on the Covid-19 vaccine. In early December, vaccines developed by the Nanogen Company using recombinant protein technology will be tested in human phase 1.

However, the ability of the Vietnam vaccine to be produced early and in sufficient doses for large-scale vaccination is very low. Therefore, external supply remains the main source.

On Wednesday, December 2, Britain became the first country in the world to approve Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. He ordered 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people.

Those on the priority list in the UK will be vaccinated in December this year. But it is estimated that it will not be until April next year that all at-risk people in the UK will be vaccinated.

According to The Washington Post, around 200 Covid vaccines are currently being tested around the world.

Of which more than 190 types are in the preclinical stage. There are 15 vaccines in phase one clinical trials. 15 second stage vaccines. 10 phase three vaccines.

Vaccines often take years to develop. Candidate vaccines are produced in the laboratory and then tested in animals before conducting small and large-scale human trials.

All governments have pledged not to skip the testing phases.

The United States government said it will not approve a vaccine without a large-scale (phase 3) human trial. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only authorizes a vaccine if it alleviates symptoms and prevents disease in 50% of vaccinated people.

Meanwhile, each country has different standards, even authorizing vaccines without waiting to prove their safety and efficacy.

Russia announced that it began giving injections to high-risk people in August 2020, ahead of phase three testing. China has also licensed a vaccine from the China Sinopharm National Pharmaceutical Corporation and injected one million people.

The United States plans to complete vaccine research in approximately 12-18 months, beginning in January 2020. Record time. The United States has invested $ 9.5 billion to accelerate vaccine development.

In Australia alone, the government signed five agreements to buy vaccines, if they turn out to be effective and safe. Australia has spent $ 363 million on vaccine research and development globally, and Australia has also invested $ 3.3 billion in these five deals, to help Australia secure an advance purchase of a vaccine once they are available. approved after it has been shown to be safe and effective.

A coalition called the COVAX Facility, comprising 188 countries, including Australia, was also formed to support rapid and equitable access to Covid vaccines for countries. This group is expected to mobilize two billion doses of vaccines to the world by early 2012. Australia has paid more than 124 million dollars in advance to purchase 25 million doses of vaccines for its population. This is enough for 50% of Australians to give two doses to each person.

Australia also spent $ 80 million to help 94 low-income countries get vaccinated as soon as possible.