Viet Nam needs to prepare to coexist with COVID-19, Deputy PM says

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam

He urged the Ministry of Health to help domestic COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers complete the dossiers of domestic vaccine Nano Covax and send to the ministry’s National Council for Ethics in Biomedical Research, and the Advisory Council for the Registration of Circulation of Drugs and Medicinal Ingredients for considering the approval of the vaccine for emergency use.

The two Councils will be responsible for advising the Government and the Prime Minister on COVID-19 vaccines, especially the vaccines for children, combination of vaccines, and vaccination plan for 2022.

Deputy PM Vu also asked the ministry to assist related firms to soon complete the trial process of the anti-viral drug Molnupiravir and design a plan to ensure the availability of treatment drugs to meet the demand amid rapid COVID-19 infection spike.

The ministry was also urged to speed up the clinical trials and evaluation of the efficacy of the Vipdevir drug for COVID-19 treatment developed and produced by the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology.

Vu tasked the ministry to coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and relevant agencies to support companies to soon produce rapid antigen testing kits that are effective against on many SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The two ministries were assigned to coordinate in evaluating the quality of mobile oxygen generating system developed by the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology.

He also tasked the Ministry of Health to provide detailed guidelines for identifying “red areas”, “yellow areas”, and “green areas” to help localities to decide on the scope and frequency of COVID-19 testing./.

By Huong Giang