“Vietnam’s Potential Access to mRNA Vaccine Technology: Opportunities and Challenges”

Hanoi (VNA)-Vietnam has opportunity to access new technology of mRNA vaccine production, but must carefully consider steps, time, scale, investment capital and human resource development.

This was stated by Patrick Haverman, deputy chief representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam during the seminar entitled “Dissemination of the results of the study on vaccine production and Vietnam’s participation in the technology transfer program of mARM of the World Health Organization (WHO)”, held today in Hanoi.

Haverman said that in the last six months of 2021, with the support of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) and international organizations, Vietnam has become one of the countries with the highest vaccination rate in the world. world, saving lives and facilitating reopening and economic recovery.

He stressed that Vietnam’s capacity building will contribute to the routine production of vaccines for the country’s Expanded Program on Immunization, including the application of new technologies, as well as capacity building to respond to emerging diseases and pandemics in the future.

At the meeting, the researchers discussed studies conducted by UNDP in collaboration with the Institute for Health Policy and Strategy (IEPS) on the issues related to mapping Vietnam’s current vaccine production capacity, policies and international licensing procedures for vaccines, among others.

They also commented that Vietnam’s participation in the WHO-initiated mRNA technology transfer program has marked an important step towards increasing access and domestic production of vaccines.

According to Nguyen Khanh Phuong, deputy director of the IEPS, Vietnam has the ability to master vaccine production technology, and is one of the few countries that is almost proactive about all vaccines in its expanded immunization program.

For Vietnam to become a regional vaccine production center, Khanh Phuong recommended that the country should focus on developing qualified human resources, building a production plant for these pharmaceutical substances that meets domestic and export demand, as well as improving the quality management system of those products to meet international standards.

On the other hand, it is necessary to continue strengthening the system of national vaccine management agencies, obtain WHO certifications in this field, and develop policies in this regard, stressed Khanh Phuong./.