It has entrusted the Ministry of Health with making a plan for establishing a center for Covid-19 vaccine research, technology transfer and vaccine production. Policies will be issued to attract investment in Covid-19 vaccine research from enterprises and organizations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested that a domestic Covid-19 vaccine be available before June 2022.

The government has also directed that the Covid-19 vaccine fund, set up in May for buying Covid-19 vaccines from abroad and supporting production of made-in-Vietnam vaccines, is used effectively.

The fund is part of efforts to meet the target of securing 150 million vaccine doses to inoculate 70 percent of Vietnam’s 98-million population.

The health ministry’s vaccine research and producing company, Vaccine and Biological Production No. 1 (VABIOTECH), is in charge of technology transfer for the production of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.

The technology transfer will be conducted in two phases. First, Vietnam will import semi-finished doses and complete the process using local staff, equipment and facilities with guidance from a Russian partner. In the second phase, the partner will transfer the necessary technology to produce the vaccine from scratch, and Vietnam aims to produce 100-150 million doses per year.

The country has inoculated about 3.5 million people since March, with more than 182,000 receiving two shots.