VOV.VN - The COVID-19 pandemic is not expected to be fully brought under control during the first half of the year, or in the remainder of 2021, with pandemic prevention and control therefore regarded as the top priority in the first quarter and beyond.

VOV.VN - The second phase of trial injections for Nano Covax, the locally-produced COVID-19 vaccine, will be conducted on over 560 volunteers aged between 18 and 65, with the first trial shot being carried out on February 26, according to Nguyen Ngo Quang, deputy head of the Department of Science-Technology and Training.

ASEAN member states, including Vietnam, have agreed to set aside US$10.5 million from the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund to purchase vaccines for their citizens on the basis of equal distribution to all 10 countries.

VOV.VN - The 13th Political Bureau, the supreme policy-making body of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), along with the CPV Secretariat, approved the Government’s plan to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for domestic use, at their first meeting held on February 18 in Hanoi.

Vietnam raked in US$2.6 billion from exports of textiles and garments in January 2021, up 3.3% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

VOV.VN - The Ministry of Health has permitted AstraZeneca Vietnam Co., Ltd. to urgently import a total of 204,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to battle a fresh wave of the coronavirus in the country.

Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations, has affirmed that Vietnam together with ASEAN member states and other WTO members support and congratulate Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her election as WTO General Director.

VOV.VN - The Lotus Medical Centre, which was established through a co-operative agreement between the nation and Poland, has been granted a license to perform novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations in the Eastern European country.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered the health sector to conduct all necessary measures to make COVID-19 vaccines available in Vietnam this month either through purchasing or from UN organisations.

Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy has emphasised the need to offer COVID-19 vaccine to peacekeepers, particularly those at high risk, such as medical workers at field hospitals and forces operating in areas severely hit by the pandemic.