To reduce the burden on the State budget, Binh Duong provincial authority has advocated socializing the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate people. On the basis of registering the quantity of vaccine purchases with Ministry of Health and committing to implement the terms, Binh Duong provincial authority aims to offer immunity to the community in the spirit of social responsibility of the business community and individual organizations in joined hands to contribute to the cost of purchasing Covid-19 vaccines.
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The whole society called for vaccine purchases
According to the provincial health sector, the sector is currently capable of large-scale vaccination in a short time while the public health clinics can inject 500,000 doses of vaccine per month. Through a review, Binh Duong has about 1.9 million people over 18 years old who are eligible for Covid-19 vaccination. With the goal of community immunity, Binh Duong needs at least 80-90% of the population to be vaccinated. After estimating to exclude the rate of disagreements, some people contraindicate the injection, the number of people who need to inject is about 1.4 to 1.5 million, corresponding to about 3 to 3.3 million doses of the vaccines at 2 injections against Covid-19.
Based on the government's Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP, the province must fully pay for the purchase of vaccines according to the quantity registered with Ministry of Health and make a partial advance payment as agreed with the manufacturers of vaccines. It is estimated that the number of Binh Duong vaccines registered with the Ministry of Health under Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP is about VND 64.7 to 91 billion for 539 thousand doses of vaccine; the cost of each vaccine dose ranges from VND 120,000 – 170,000. However, during the implementation process, the province can adjust injecting subjects according to actual needs and apply socialization to some subjects.
Dr. Nguyen Hong Chuong, Director of Binh Duong provincial Department of Health, said that for the groups not covered by Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP, the funding source for vaccines depends on the financial balance of the province, the mobilization of social resources and the self-payment of the people. However, it is difficult to have a basis for estimating people's willingness to vaccinate, depending on the budget, funding sources and the determination of the government.
"The free vaccination for the people can be implemented according to the plans such as vaccinating 80-90% of the population, equivalent to about 1.2 million people; it is necessary to have more than 2.6 million doses of vaccine for 2 injections per person, making the total cost of about VND 317 billion. The vaccination plan for 50-70% of the population with about 700,000 people to be vaccinated with more than 1.5 million vaccines has immediately consumed a budget of about VND 185 billion. The vaccination plan is low, which is under 50% of the population or about 500,000 people, to ensure the number of vaccines needed of 1.1 million doses and the budget of about VND 132 billion. Funding for this target group is mainly in the form of socialization. However, depending on the actual situation, it is possible to balance the expenditure budget to maximize the immunization for the people,” said Dr. Chuong.
To thoroughly review the prioritized people
On implementing the government's Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP, the Ministry of Health is making efforts to access financial sources to purchase, import, and vaccinate against Covid-19 to protect people's health and serve social-economic development. However, due to the very high worldwide demands for vaccines while the supply of vaccines is limited, all suppliers offer strict conditions such as signing a disclaimer agreement due to the side-effects of vaccination as the vaccines are licensed urgently, requiring both vaccination and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of protection, leaving the authorities have to buy and pay off the registered number of vaccines without returning the vaccines as well as strict progress of providing according to the supplier's schedule. In order for the organization of the purchase and use of vaccines to be highly effective and to prevent waste, Binh Duong has reviewed the quantity and registered the actual need to use vaccines.
According to Do Xuan Tuyen, Deputy Minister of Health, Covid-19 vaccines have short shelf life, which when returning to Vietnam is only about 3-4 months, so the number of registered vaccines should be calculated according to ability of immunization by locally managed health facilities. Number of each group and units would be sent to Department of Preventive Medicine and regional Pasteur institutes for synthesis. This is the basis for Ministry of Health to develop a plan to distribute and deploy vaccination against Covid-19 in the coming time.
Based on the synthesis of the needs to use vaccines as registered by localities and the quantity of vaccines negotiated and purchased from manufacturers, suppliers and vaccine receipt roadmap, Ministry of Health will allocate specific amount for each locality after vaccination. The quantity, schedule of supply, and types of vaccine will depend on the number of vaccines obtained and on time of delivery by manufacturers and suppliers. The purchase of vaccines must be based on the needs and vaccination capacity of provinces and cities.
Reported by Kim Ha – Translated by Vi Bao
