Socio-economic development impossible without effective Covid-19 containment: PM

Aug 13th at 08:39

13-08-2021 08:39:23+07:00

Vietnam’s priority is to look for all sources of vaccines possible, as the best vaccine would be the one administered, stressed the prime minister.

Successful Covid-19 containment would pave the way for socio-economic development, as failure in this regard would put more pressure on realizing development goals and hardship on people’s life.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the meeting. Photo: Nhat Bac

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed the view at a government’s monthly meeting on August 11.

According to Chinh, in comparison to other regional countries, the pandemic situation in Vietnam still remains under control as people’s lives in localities that once used to be Covid-19 epicenter have now almost returned to normal.

“The lack of vigilance and awareness on the pandemic in several provinces/cities, however, is the key reason leading to the pandemic to continue persisting,” Chinh said.

“ As sacrifices were made to adopt social distancing measures, we have to control the situation at all cost,” Chinh said, warning a prolonged Covid-19 fight would impact the country’s major development goals and cause public frustration.

Regarding the vaccination strategy, Chinh informed he has held talks with prime ministers from 16 countries, sent notes to other 22 and 10 international organizations to seek vaccines supplies for Vietnam.

“All vaccines are of the same priority for Vietnam, as the best vaccine would be the one administered,” Chinh said.

Chinh called for local agencies to speed up the transfer of vaccine technology and approval of domestic vaccines on the condition of meeting medical requirements to aid the ongoing Covid-19 fight.

“For the time being, pandemic restriction measures are the decisive factor to protect people’s life,” he added while requesting all local authorities to provide sufficient basic necessities for people at quarantine zones.

Among measures to boost economic growth, Chinh urged government agencies and provinces/cities to focus on accelerating public investment, seen as a driving force for economic recovery.

The prime minister suggested the priority would be avoiding disruption to movements of goods among localities and protecting the labor market from pandemic impacts.

To aid the business community, the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam are tasked with drafting more support policies for local enterprises.

In long term, Vietnam aims to pursue sustainable development along with environmental protection and a focus on social welfare.

In this process, administrative reform and streamlining state apparatus are the key to further enhance efficiency in Government’s operation, Chinh stressed.

At the government’s press conference on the same day, Vice Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan noted Vietnam is capable of administering two million doses per day once more vaccines are provided.

To date, over 11.4 million out of 18 million doses have been administered, while Ho Chi Minh City, the current Covid-19 epicenter, has used up 3.6 million from the four million doses given.

“Hanoi has been allocated around three million doses, half of which have been administered, and is expected to speed up the vaccination program in the coming time,” he added.

To speed up the vaccination roll-out, the Ministry of Health urged localities to draft specific plans, a delay in this process would mean vaccines being transferred to others, Thuan said.

Hanoi Times