PM proposes AstraZeneca continue supplying COVID-19 vaccine, treatment drugs

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives Nitin Kapoor, President for Asia Area Frontier Markets at AstraZeneca, and Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception in Hanoi on January 19 for Nitin Kapoor, President for Asia Area Frontier Markets at AstraZeneca, and Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam.

Highly valuing the role and contributions of AstraZeneca in the fight against COVID-19 in the world and Vietnam, PM Chinh hailed AstraZeneca Vietnam's close coordination with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies to complete its commitment to provide 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Vietnam in 2021 before schedule, enabling the country to switch its strategy to safely, flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling the pandemic.

AstraZeneca has also helped foster the strategic partnership between Vietnam and the UK in health care, he said.

For his part, Kapoor spoke highly of Vietnam’s efforts in implementing its vaccine diplomacy, describing the country as an exemplary model in pandemic control. He also lauded Vietnam’s socio-economic recovery policies, reform efforts and freshly-approved support package of nearly 350 trillion VND (15.42 billion USD).

He briefed the Vietnamese leader on the implementation of agreements reached by PM Chinh and AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in their meeting last November during the PM’s visit to the UK. Kapoor said that AstraZeneca is speeding up a 90 million USD project to transfer drug manufacturing technology to Vietnam and is seeking a Vietnamese partner to transfer its vaccine production technology.

Kapoor revealed that AstraZeneca is considering the reduction of vaccine price for Vietnam.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

PM Chinh thanked AstraZeneca for joining hands with Vietnam in fighting COVID-19, and proposed the company continue to realise its committed projects in Vietnam, while continuing to provide new-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatment medicines for Vietnam to improve the country’s capacity to respond to new SARS-CoV-2 variants, and share international experience with Vietnam in injecting COVID-19 vaccines to children aged between 5-12.

The PM pledged that the Vietnamese Government will support and create optimal conditions for AstraZeneca to implement its research, production and technology transfer projects in Vietnam. He hoped that the firm will continue to accompany Vietnam's health care sector, contributing to deepening the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership.

Kapoor reaffirmed AstraZeneca's commitments in Vietnam and vowed to support Vietnam to become a leading pharmaceutical centre in the region./.

VNA