EuroCham: COVID-19 fund – a "truly national effort" to vaccinate population

EuroCham Chairman Alain Cany

“In a global pandemic, no one is safe until everybody is safe. The government’s vaccination fund recognizes that we are all in this together; that we all have a role and a responsibility to step up and make a contribution,” said Cany in a recent interview with the VGP.

Now vaccinations are becoming more available, the challenge is no longer about containing the spread of the virus but about widespread vaccination. The Government has set an ambitious goal to vaccinate 75 per cent of the population and this will be essential to restarting normal commercial activities and getting back to normal life.

If the Government can achieve its vaccination target, it will also achieve its dual goals of containing the pandemic and reviving the economy.

Cany affirmed European companies stand together with Viet Nam during these difficult times, adding that during the last outbreak, EuroCham’s member companies in the pharmaceutical sector donated US$100,000 to the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and those in medical devices and diagnostics donated 12,000 test kits to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The EuroCham chairman vows to continue supporting Viet Nam’s recovery efforts, expressing his belief that the Government’s ambitious target to vaccinate 75 per cent of the population can be achieved if joint forces are pulled together, for instance through a public-private partnership arrangement.

In particular, many European companies would be pleased to help accelerate Viet Nam’s vaccination drive by covering the cost of inoculating their own workforce as this would help reduce the burden on the government’s vaccination fund and help to get back to business as usual as soon as possible, said Cany.

Asked how the pandemic has affected EuroCham’s businesses, Cany said “There is no doubt that the global pandemic has had an effect on companies here as elsewhere in the world. Of course, our members have fared better in Viet Nam – thanks to the swift and effective actions of the Government since the crisis first began back in March 2020.”

Cany went on to say that “Tourism, hospitality, and aviation were the first to be affected. But the effects soon spread to companies in all sectors and industries. Despite this, our members remain positive and optimistic about Viet Nam’s trade and investment environment. In EuroCham’s latest Business Climate Index – taken before the recent fourth wave – overall sentiment had almost reached pre-pandemic levels.”

“When asked about the prospects of Viet Nam’s business environment in the next quarter, 67 per cent predicted either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ – a 12 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, business leaders were also more optimistic about their own companies. More than two-thirds (68 per cent) predicted that their orders and revenue would ‘maintain or increase’ over the next three months. That’s a 25 per cent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2020,” said the EuroCham chairman./.

By Thuy Dung