Behind the scenes of negotiating to buy 30 million doses of Vietnam's first Covid-19 vaccine 6
VNVC has just revealed for the first time the investment costs to negotiate to buy 30 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
In Vietnam, only VNVC can currently buy Covid-19 vaccine.
Ms. Vu Thi Thu Ha, Director of VNVC’s Supply System, said on June 1 that in order to successfully negotiate a purchase contract, from the beginning of 2020 when AstraZeneca’s vaccine was still in the clinical research stage, the company
`At that time, we determined that if there was a risk, only VNVC would bear it. If it is successful, tens of millions of people will have their health protected,` Ms. Ha shared.
In addition to money, VNVC also has to prove to vaccine manufacturers its capabilities to import, preserve, transport, deploy vaccination and commit to equality, anti-fraud, anti-dumping, and price increases in vaccination deployment.
Successfully negotiating and signing a contract, VNVC became one of three units selected by AstraZeneca to distribute vaccines in large quantities in Vietnam, besides Covax Facility and UNICEF.
The second batch of vaccines with nearly 288,000 doses in the 30 million dose contract purchased by the Ministry of Health through VNVC is currently in 2-8 degree Celsius cold storage in Ho Chi Minh City.
To date, two batches of 405,200 doses of vaccine have arrived in Vietnam, transferred by VNVC to the Ministry of Health on non-profit principles to serve urgent anti-epidemic needs.
It is expected that more than 29 million remaining vaccine doses will arrive in the coming months.
The largest vaccination campaign in Vietnam
Vietnam launched the Covid-19 vaccination campaign with AstraZeneca vaccine from March 8, with the first batch of more than 117,000 doses purchased by VNVC.
After that, Vietnam received three more batches of vaccines, all from AstraZeneca, totaling nearly 2.9 million doses.
Covax Facility plans to provide Vietnam with 38.9 million free doses in 2021. The Ministry of Health has ordered an additional 10 million doses from Covax, under a cost-sharing mechanism.
At an online anti-epidemic meeting on the morning of May 29, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long analyzed 4 methods by which countries are currently accessing Covid-19 vaccines.
First, some countries have invested billions of dollars in domestic companies to research and produce vaccines.
The second group are countries participating in production trials such as India and Brazil.
The third group is countries that invest early, right when the vaccine is in the clinical trial stage.
The fourth group is the remaining countries, mainly relying on Covax supplies.
