Receiving Giorgio Aliberti, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, in Hanoi on Friday, Chairman Hue thanked the EU for helping Vietnam with vaccines through the COVAX Facility and WHO.

But he said that as vaccination rate in Vietnam is still low, herd immunity can hardly be achieved to boost socio-economic, trade and tourism development. No region, country, or people will be safe if COVID-19 vaccines are not secured for everybody, Mr. Hue said, adding that  countries and businesses that own the patent of vaccine production technology need to continue to share it with other countries, especially those that are heavily affected by the pandemic.

Ambassador Aliberti emphasized the importance of increasing vaccination against COVID-19 to create broad coverage as soon as possible. He said the EU strongly supports the "Global Access to Vaccines" mechanism" (COVAX) and has so far provided 2.4 million doses to Vietnam and will continue to increase supply from now until the end of the year.