Patrick Haverman, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Vietnam addresses the workshop (Photo:congthuong.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is seeing a great opportunity to access the for vaccine production, said Patrick Haverman,
Deputy Resident Representative in Vietnam, at a workshop held by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Health Strategy and Policy
Institute (HSPI) under the Ministry of Health in Hanoi on May 22.
Haverman underlined the need for Vietnam to carefully
consider the steps and timelines, the scale and sources of the required investment
of funds, and the development of expertise to ensure this technology transfer’s
effectiveness and financial sustainability.
The collaboration among the key departments,
institutes, enterprises, senior experts, and partners at the workshop will
contribute to developing an effective national strategy to improve vaccine
access in Vietnam and the broader region in the coming time.
The posed significant challenges for Vietnam
and other countries in accessing vaccine supplies. In mid-2021, Vietnam had one
of Southeast Asia’s lowest COVID-19 vaccine coverage rates. However, through a
combination of COVAX supplies, donations and procurement from international suppliers, Vietnam rapidly
increased its vaccination rates in the latter half of 2021. This achievement
not only saved lives but also created conditions for reopening and recovering
from the economic impact of the pandemic.
The workshop aimed to disseminate the results of three
studies on strengthening vaccine production and certification in Vietnam and to
update on Vietnam’s participation in WHO’s mRNA technology transfer programme through the project “Support to Strengthening Vaccine Access and Health
System Capacity for Vietnam’s Response to COVID-19” which is
funded by the Japanese Government through the UNDP.
Illustrative image (Photo: vneconomy.vn)The workshop provided a platform to share the key findings
of three crucial studies conducted under this project, focusing on
sharing international experiences on domestic vaccine development and
production, mapping Vietnam’s current vaccine production capacity, and
reviewing international vaccine licensing policies and procedures, including
licensing of international for use in Vietnam.
During the workshop, Vietnam’s participation in the mRNA
Technology Transfer Programme initiated by the World Health Organisation (WHO)
was highlighted.
A significant highlight of the workshop was the proposal of
a roadmap to establish Vietnam as a regional vaccine production center. This
roadmap outlined the necessary steps and actions to enhance Vietnam’s
capabilities in vaccine production, contributing to regional health security.
Dr. Nguyen Khanh Phuong, HSPI Vice Director, said that Vietnam
has the ability to master vaccine production technology as it has previously
mastered technologies such as inactivated vaccines, antitoxin vaccines, subunit
vaccines.
She underlined the need for Vietnam to focus on developing highly qualified and
skilled human resources for vaccine production, while building a GMP (good
manufacturing practice) production facility with a scale to meet domestic and
export demand, among others./.
Source: VietnamPlus
