 Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Head of the Government's Working Group on Vaccine Diplomacy (photo: Tuan Anh) |
April 27th, 2021, marked the 4th wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam, with widespread infection of the Delta variant, which threatened to undo achievements in pandemic prevention and control. Vaccines were the key to curbing the pandemic and protecting human lives.
But it was difficult to obtain vaccines, when the global supply of vaccines was scarce. In an unprecedented situation, vaccine diplomacy was identified as the key solution to rally support from the international community, with the motto: "The earliest vaccine is the best vaccine".
According to the Report on vaccine diplomacy, as of September last year, Vietnam had received approximately 120 million doses of vaccine, accounting for nearly half of the vaccines received. 30 countries, territories, international organizations, and overseas Vietnamese communities donated medical equipment with a total value of 80 million USD.
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Head of the Government's Working Group on Vaccine Diplomacy, pointed out a number of lessons learned from Vietnam’s success in the vaccine diplomacy campaign. One was that Vietnam always promotes sincerity, trust, international solidarity, sharing, and mutual assistance in all its external relations.
As soon as the COVID-19 epidemic broke out globally, Vietnam tried to provide medical assistance to other countries within its limited resources. Then, when Vietnam faced difficulties, international friends donated vaccines, drugs, and medical equipment.
Minister Son said: “We promoted our good, open external relations and our new status in vaccine diplomacy. The diplomatic sector included vaccine in external activities, especially high-level diplomacy of Party and State leaders. Vietnam’s network of overseas representative offices promoted looking for and accessing vaccine sources.”
Vaccine diplomacy created momentum for Vietnam’s largest vaccination campaign in history and early control of the disease.