Volunteers injecting experimental vaccine Covivac. Photo: General Writing Domestic vaccines can reach 20-30 million doses/year According to the Ministry of Health, so far, the country has two manufacturers researching and developing vaccines against Covid-19.
The Nanocovax vaccine of the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company has been approved for a phase 3 clinical trial (TNLS). In the past few days, the Military Medical Academy has administered experimental injections to volunteers aged 18.
According to the research outline, phase 3 will test on about 13,000 volunteers in many provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Hung Yen, Long An, Tien Giang, etc. In the North, the Military Medical Academy will act as the focal point for deployment. at Military Medical Hospital 103 and Hung Yen province’s preventive health center deployed locally. The southern area will be professionally handled by the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, in collaboration with the preventive health centers of Long An and Tien Giang provinces.
At the Military Medical Academy, there are currently more than 6,000 volunteers registered to participate in the trial, of which more than 600 people have been screened and are eligible to participate. In the immediate future, in the first phase of the TNLS phase 3, the Military Medical Academy will test 1,000 people. According to the Military Medical Academy, before that, in stages 1 and 2 of the Nano Covax vaccine trial, 100% of people who injected immunity were protected against the attack of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In the phase 3 trial, the Nano Covax vaccine was administered to volunteers from 18 years of age, and there was no maximum age limit for the trial participants. Currently, the oldest person to register for TNLS injection phase 3 is 83 years old. Nano Covax vaccine will also be administered to volunteers with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes (stable disease, do not inject during acute phase) to evaluate the results of immunogenicity. fluid, post-injection reaction… The results of the phase 3 clinical trial are the basis for the Ministry of Health to grant emergency permits and widely inject people to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic, which is expected in the fourth quarter of this year. Earlier, during a working visit to the Military Medical Academy, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue asked the Military Medical Academy to continue to closely coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to urgently accelerate the implementation of clinical trials. Preparing phase 3 of Nanocovax vaccine, striving for early results to have a preventive vaccine for the community. However, when manufacturing, vaccines must ensure superiority in antibody generation time, with the shortest number of days; minimize side effects to a minimum, especially for people with weak health and underlying diseases; at the same time, must be able to resist and destroy future mutations. In addition, the COVIVAC vaccine of the Nha Trang Institute of Vaccines and Biologicals, is currently in the first phase of the TNLS and is about to be transferred to the second phase of research in Thai Binh.
According to the Ministry of Health, the COVIVAC vaccine is expected to produce about 6 million doses per year and can increase capacity when invested. Meanwhile, with the Nanocovax vaccine, which is expected to produce about 20-30 million doses per year, Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company can increase its capacity when invested.
A vaccine is coming soon that only requires one dose
Information from the Department of Science and Technology (Ministry of Health), a Vietnamese enterprise has discussed and negotiated with the US manufacturer on conditions for transferring technology to produce Covid-19 vaccine from mRNA essence. It is known that this vaccine only needs to be injected with a single dose of 5 mg, has high protection (based on the results of TNLS phase 1, 2), has a storage temperature of 20 – 80 degrees Celsius, currently the vaccine has been tested. end of trial phase 1, 2).
The first factory following the manufacturer’s technology standards will increase the capacity of 100-200 million doses/year, and is expected to start production from the end of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022. In addition, the No. 1 Vaccine and Biological Products Company Limited (VABIOTECH) is also negotiating with a Japanese partner to receive the transfer of vaccine production technology to Vietnam. In addition, VABIOTECH signed an agreement with the Direct Investment Fund of the Russian Federation on the closure of Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine tubes from semi-finished products with a scale of 5 million doses/month starting from July 2021. , towards transferring production technology with the scale of 100 million doses/year.
According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, vaccines are an important weapon to bring life back to normal. Therefore, the Politburo has a policy on import, research, production and technology transfer for vaccines. Along with creating maximum conditions and quickly solving procedures for businesses and localities to import vaccines, Vietnam also promotes research and domestic production of vaccines. Vietnam is one of the first four countries in the world to isolate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, paving the way for research and production of vaccines, and many positive prospects for people to soon receive domestic vaccines. In addition, the Ministry of Health has worked with many foreign partners, negotiated to buy vaccine copyrights, transfer technology so that Vietnam can get the vaccine as soon as possible and be independent in the source of vaccines used in the country.
Recently, the Ministry of Health has negotiated with Johnson & Johnson Corporation with the hope that this unit will transfer technology to set up a vaccine factory in Vietnam. According to Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, many large corporations in Vietnam want to participate in the global vaccine supply chain. Vietnam is also one of more than 40 countries that can produce vaccines for the vaccination needs of the people, so the vaccine production experience of Vietnamese factories is guaranteed. Vietnam’s national vaccine management system (NRA) has also been certified as meeting standards by the World Health Organization (WHO). Johnson & Johnson’s side commits that after working with the Ministry of Health, it will make efforts to implement solutions to speed up the supply process through the COVAX mechanism, so that Vietnam can have Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as soon as possible. However, Minister Nguyen Thanh Long also said that, to ensure vaccine security, one of the very important issues is to ensure a sustainable financial source for vaccines. Therefore, the Minister wishes that the community, authorities and businesses continue to support the Vaccine Fund. Vietnam has self-produced many vaccines and put them into the expanded vaccination program, contributing to the eradication and repelling of many dangerous diseases. This is the premise for the successful production of a Covid-19 vaccine. In fact, the research and production of vaccines against Covid-19 faces many difficulties and challenges, but this is the inevitable path we must go if we want to actively supply vaccines to serve the people. Over the past time, the Ministry of Health and State management agencies have created all conditions for administrative procedures for units to conduct vaccine production in the most favorable way. We can fully expect a “made in Vietnam” vaccine because at the moment, everything is going well.

Senior Advisor of the Center for Emergency Response to Public Health Events, Assoc. Tran Dac Phu The success of a vaccine depends not only on the manufacturer, researcher, and manager, but also on the social community. Therefore, we call for the cooperation of society, all people with the health sector to have a clinical trial research program, first of all, to be safe and effective to have a product soon. vaccines produced by Vietnam for the community.

Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Investment (Ministry of Health), Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang

Illustration. At the meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control on the afternoon of June 11, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan informed that the Ministry of Health had officially approved the phase 3 clinical trial of the vaccine. Vietnam’s first COVID-19 room named Nano Covax. According to Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan, the Ministry of Health has just approved the phase 3 clinical trial of Nano Covax vaccine of Nanogen Company. According to Lieutenant Colonel, Assoc. Dr. Chu Van Men – Director of the Center for Clinical Trials and Bioequivalence, Military Medical Academy, Ministry of National Defense, phase 3 injected the Nano Covax vaccine to 13,000 people and injected only a single dose group. 25 mcg and placebo injection group (with a ratio of “6 people vaccinated to 1 person injecting placebo” according to the design approved by the Ministry of Health). As for the reason for choosing the 25 mcg dose group, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chu Van Men said that when the phase 2 trial showed that, the 3 dose levels of 25-50-75 mcg had equivalent safety and immunogenicity. undifferentiated. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety and increase the effectiveness of the number of doses of vaccine production, the National Ethical Council in Biomedical Research, the Ministry of Health decided to inject only 1 optimal dose of 25 mcg at the initial stage. this. Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang asked and encouraged volunteers to test the vaccine against COVID-19 Nano Covax. Photo: PV. On June 11, the Military Medical Academy said that this unit has started to deploy the phase 3 trial injection of the COVID-19 Nano Covax vaccine for the first 19 volunteers. On the day of injection for 200 people, divided into 2 groups. Accordingly, one group injected the Nano Covax vaccine with a dose of 25mcg, the other group injected a placebo with aluminum excipients. Military medical students will inject 1,000 volunteers in the first time. According to the research outline, phase 3 will test on about 13,000 volunteers in many provinces such as Hanoi, Hung Yen, Long An, Tien Giang… At the Military Medical Academy, there are currently more than 7,000 volunteers registered to participate in the trial, of which more than 600 people have been screened and are eligible to participate. Besides, IVAC’s Covivac vaccine is also preparing to complete phase 1 trial and enter phase 2 in July 2021. Regarding the subjects of vaccination, according to Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan, in addition to the priority subjects for COVID-19 vaccination under Resolution 21, the Ministry of Health has added workers in industrial zones and will propose more subjects working in establishments dealing in essential goods.

All of these vaccines are allocated to priority subjects according to Resolution 21 and localities with industrial parks. Vaccines for COVID-19. Photo: Times of India. In addition, from now until the end of the third quarter, Vietnam will also receive an additional 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine ordered by the Ministry of Health through VNVC. In the third quarter, information from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer said that 3 million doses of vaccine can be shipped to Vietnam, the rest will be concentrated in the fourth quarter. However, the specific time and quantity may change due to dependents. of the world situation. According to Professor Dang Duc Anh, the COVID-19 vaccine has a very short shelf life, only about 6 months. Meanwhile, the time from the production facility to Vietnam takes about 2 months, so it only takes 3-4 months to deploy the injection. In particular, Pfizer’s vaccines must be stored at deep minus temperatures (-70 degrees Celsius). If the temperature is 2-8 degrees Celsius, this vaccine is only used for one month. Therefore, in the coming time, the Ministry of Health will coordinate with units of the Ministry of National Defense across the country to ensure the preservation and transportation of vaccines to the injection point in the shortest time. Up to this point, Vietnam has urgently approved four COVID-19 vaccines: AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Sinopharm and Pfizer. Vietnam aims to have 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine this year for at least 70-80% of the population, to form herd immunity. However, only 4 batches of AstraZeneca’s vaccine have arrived in Vietnam with a total of nearly 2.9 million doses. Earlier, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stated that Vietnam is facing the 4th wave of COVID-19 epidemic with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 capable of spreading quickly and widely. The Vietnamese government is drastically directing epidemic prevention and control measures to soon stabilize the situation. One of Vietnam’s priorities in COVID-19 prevention is to have a COVID-19 vaccine early and to implement broader vaccination coverage for the population. Therefore, in parallel with efforts to find, negotiate and discuss with partners and vaccine manufacturers to bring vaccines to Vietnam, the Ministry of Health and related ministries and branches also focus on developing domestic vaccines to gradually ensure vaccine autonomy. At the same time, Vietnam also participates in COVAX’s global vaccine supply mechanism.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue visits the vaccine research and production laboratory of the Military Medical Academy – Photo: Thanh Chung A representative of the Military Medical Academy said that it has successfully researched and manufactured a test kit to detect the new strain of corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) by real-time RT-PCR method, used at more than 100 facilities. healthcare throughout the country and exported to 18 countries around the world. Continuing to research and successfully manufacture Amphabio PCR test kits with the ability to test quickly and in large quantities at the same time, which is currently being used effectively in Bac Giang province. Notably, the Academy has been trusted by the Ministry of Health to carry out phase 1 and 2 clinical trials for the Nano Covax vaccine against Covid-19 (from December 2020) and both are generating antibodies. It is expected that from June 2021, there will be a phase 3 clinical trial, deploying over 13,000 volunteers 18 years of age or older. In addition, the Academy has mobilized staff to support the prevention and control of Covid-19 in Quang Nam, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Laos. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue visited and worked at the Military Medical Academy – Photo: Thanh Chung Speaking at the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue highly appreciated the efforts and achievements that the Military Medical Academy has achieved during 72 years of construction and growth, which has received the most noble achievements of the Party. , state and military. In particular, in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Military Medical Academy is one of the active, active and effective participating units. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that in the current period, the task of effective disease prevention is the focus in the implementation of “dual duty”, so vaccines are an important “weapon”, strategic, decisive issues to end and conquer disease. “The XIII Congress of the Party has set a key task of focusing on controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, mass vaccination of the community with Covid-19 vaccine. Therefore, the Military Medical Academy closely coordinates with other agencies. Relevant ministries and sectors urgently speed up the phase 3 clinical trial of the Nano Covax vaccine against Covid-19, striving for early results to have a preventive vaccine for the community” – National Assembly Chairman assigned. The National Assembly Chairman also suggested that the Military Medical Academy should identify challenges such as, there are many domestic and foreign facilities focusing on research and production of vaccines. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue analyzed that if there is no superior vaccine in terms of quality, price and supply quantity, it will fall into an opportunity trap. A number of vaccine products have been born and put into circulation in countries, along with rigorous testing by the health systems of countries, approved by WHO. However, there is currently a vaccine that has shown its effectiveness compared to the new variant; There are scenarios of monopolistic production, imposing price and quantity, but also opportunities for technology transfer in the direction of humane sharing. “So, the Military Medical Academy to research and produce vaccines, it is necessary to have the shortest time of antibodies, the shortest number of days, the better. The side effects must be minimized, especially for people with underlying diseases. and weak health. Having the ability to resist and adapt to new variants of the virus,” suggested the National Assembly Chairman. At the meeting, the Military Medical Academy proposed to allow the Academy to organize the implementation of the project “Research and Development Center for Human Infectious Diseases” which was approved by the Prime Minister at the government office. Document No. 164 dated December 31, 2020 of the Government Office, which is expected to have a number of functions and tasks such as research on pathogens, development and production of biological products for detection, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. treating infectious diseases, especially dangerous and extremely dangerous diseases, contributing to protecting the health of soldiers and people, especially in emergency and disaster situations. Researching foundational technologies in development, technology transfer and production of vaccines against infectious diseases, especially dangerous and dangerous infectious diseases. Agreeing with the proposal of the Military Medical Academy, National Assembly Chairwoman Vuong Dinh Hue suggested, the Academy needs a state-level scientific research program and emergency approval to research and test. production of vaccines for human infectious diseases. The Ministry of National Defense shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant agencies in, facilitating and directing the Military Medical Academy to accelerate the implementation of the project “Research and development center for human infectious diseases vaccines” under the theme of: Government policy. Also this afternoon, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue visited the vaccine research and production laboratory at the Military Medicine Research Center building, under the Military Medical Academy. The National Assembly Chairman graciously encouraged the forces directly involved in research, production and volunteers to test the Covid-19 vaccine.

“I have a strategy and I will publish it.” Biden said when asked about the vaccine strategy for the world before boarding Air Force One to fly to the UK for the G-7 summit. The US will donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to the world. (Photo: CNN) Sheet The Times said Mr Biden would appear alongside Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to make the announcement. According to the AP , of these 500 million doses, 200 million doses will be shared this year. The rest will be donated in early 2022. Washington Post was the first newspaper to publish this information. Many newspapers later cited sources confirming the above information. The US is facing increasing pressure to draw up a plan to share vaccines with the world as its vaccine campaign is inching towards the finish line. Last week, the White House announced plans to allocate the first 25 million doses of the vaccine, with 19 million going to COVAX and 6 million to current COVID-19 hotspots including India. These vaccines are among the 80 million doses of vaccines the US has pledged to share with the world this month.

In Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to resolutely and effectively implement the vaccine strategy, which accelerates access to purchase and import of Covid-19 vaccine sources for Vietnam, including through COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Program (COVAX). UNICEF and WHO representatives in Vietnam welcomed the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine including 811,200 doses in COVAX’s commitment to support Vietnam. (Source: UNICEF) From defense to attack According to the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang, following the Prime Minister’s direction with the spirit of “fighting the epidemic like fighting the enemy”, right from the time the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and countries conducted research and production, Successfully testing a vaccine against the disease, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad have made efforts to find, approach and negotiate with partners to provide vaccines against Covid-19 to soon import vaccines using vaccines. used in the country. In the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the COVAX mechanism is one of the best solutions to ensure the rapid and equitable deployment of safe and effective vaccines to all countries around the world. COVAX is coordinated by three organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) and the Coalition for Epidemic Response Innovations (CEPI), with distribution partners being United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). With the policy of joining COVAX early, in December 2020, Vietnam submitted a dossier to this mechanism to propose vaccine support. On that basis, COVAX has allocated vaccines and committed to provide Vietnam with a vaccine quantity guaranteed to immunize 20% of the population, equivalent to nearly 39 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine. Up to now, Vietnam has received more than 2.5 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX mechanism. This is part of a total of 4.1 million doses of vaccine, worth up to $17 million, committed to Vietnam by COVAX in the first six months of 2021. The remaining batches will arrive in Vietnam by the end of this year and early 2022. All vaccines are provided free of charge by COVAX through UNICEF. Thus, up to now, this is the largest amount of vaccines Vietnam has received. According to Mr. Do Hung Viet, Director of the Department of International Organizations (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), participating in Vietnam’s COVAX program is about finding “the right person at the right time”. COVAX has promptly provided the first two batches of vaccines so that Vietnam can deploy its vaccination strategy, especially for the frontline forces against the epidemic, contributing to helping us begin to change the state of epidemic prevention from defense to prevention. translation attack. In ASEAN, before Vietnam, two countries have committed to contribute to COVAX: Singapore ($5 million) and the Philippines ($100,000). Spread the spirit of solidarity Up to now, COVAX has received funding from more than 40 countries and partners, mainly from the US, European Union (EU), Japan, Australia, UK… AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, distributed under the COVAX mechanism, has been vaccinated in Vietnam since early March. For COVAX’s goal of providing 2 billion doses of vaccine to developing countries, middle and low-income countries, the amount of money that COVAX needs to continue to mobilize is still very large. In addition, the global Covid-19 vaccine supply chain is being disrupted and disrupted by the resurgence of the pandemic in many places, especially in India – a large vaccine production “factory”. best of the world. In that context, the COVAX mechanism must be flexible and adjusted to meet more urgent needs in places where the epidemic situation is severe. The supply is low, many places have severe outbreaks of the disease, greatly affecting the vaccine supply schedule of COVAX. As a major beneficiary of the COVAX program, Vietnam is determined to join hands with the international community to respond to the pandemic. This is also the policy that Vietnam is strongly promoting in recent years. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Vietnam has stepped up to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity to cope with the epidemic, because Vietnam understands that no country will be safe when the world is still not safe. With that policy and spirit, Vietnam has decided to contribute $500,000 to the COVAX initiative. Thus, Vietnam is classified as one of the few developing countries contributing to COVAX. Mr. Do Hung Viet emphasized that the contribution to COVAX demonstrates Vietnam’s sense of responsibility in global efforts, strengthens multilateral cooperation, thereby enhancing Vietnam’s image and position in the eyes of foreign partners. international organizations as well as international friends. As soon as Vietnam announced its contribution to COVAX, many international organizations, including GAVI, UNICEF, WHO… gave thanks and appreciated this decision. “Through this contribution, Vietnam hopes to have a synergistic effect, spreading the spirit of international solidarity so that governments of other countries and other partners can take necessary actions to increase support for the country. COVAX”, shared Mr. Do Hung Viet. The frontline against epidemics abroad The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tasked by the Government with the Ministry of Health as the main agency in finding and accessing vaccine sources. With a network of more than 90 Vietnamese representative offices abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has coordinated to drastically implement this task. Thereby, Vietnam has access to a number of vaccine sources of countries and international organizations to contribute to Vietnam’s vaccination strategy. Currently, on a global scale, vaccines are not only a medical issue but also contain many political factors. The decision of countries to support each other with vaccines depends a lot on bilateral relations in many fields. Therefore, the Vietnamese representative missions abroad and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have conducted hundreds of contacts and mobilized access to vaccine sources in countries and international organizations. This tireless effort has yielded practical results such as the recent commitments to provide Covid-19 vaccines from COVAX and the US, Russia, Japan, China… to Vietnam. UNICEF has also expressed its willingness to support our country in accessing and purchasing a vaccine against Covid-19. As the world’s largest vaccine “buyer” with longstanding relationships with leading pharmaceutical companies, UNICEF has the ability to assist Vietnam in connecting and negotiating contract terms, prices and timeframes. vaccine supply time. Mr. Do Hung Viet said that this is an effective channel to access and buy vaccines that Vietnam needs to take advantage of. In addition to accessing vaccine sources of countries, international organizations, and Vietnamese representative missions abroad, they also make efforts to connect with state and provincial governments in some countries, taking advantage of the relationship. Twinning relationship with localities to mobilize vaccine support. Obviously, dealing with the epidemic requires the cooperation of the whole community. While doctors and medical staff are on the frontline against the epidemic at home, diplomats are also soldiers on the front lines abroad to “fight” to collect vaccine sources to increase vaccination coverage. vaccination for Vietnamese people, contributing to early fight against the pandemic. COVAX’s initial goal is to purchase and mobilize 2 billion doses of vaccine by the end of 2021, enough to protect high-risk, vulnerable people and frontline healthcare workers worldwide, half of which were shipped to 92 low- and middle-income countries to vaccinate about 20% of the population of these countries. However, because the amount of COVAX vaccine received was much short of the set target, by May 24, 2021, COVAX had only distributed 72 million doses of the vaccine to 125 countries and economies.

Indonesian health experts are concerned about the risk of an increase in the number of new cases, due to variants of Covid-19 and a large number of people traveling between many areas after Ramadan. Indonesian health workers vaccinate people. Photo: Reuters In another development, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on June 9 that the government’s goal in July is to reach the milestone of 1 million doses of vaccination per day. “I want the vaccination of the population to reach 700,000 doses a day this month, and continue to increase. By July 2021, we can reach our goal of 1 million doses per day,” he said. US announced to donate 500 million doses of vaccine USA Today news agency today (June 10) said that the administration of US President Joe Biden will announce a plan to donate 500 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to more than 90 countries over the next two years. A senior US official said Biden will announce his plan to donate the vaccines at the G7 summit in the UK this week. The vaccines will be distributed through COVAX, to help deliver them to more low-income countries. Earlier this month, Mr. Biden pledged to share about 7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Asian countries and territories such as India, Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh and Vietnam. .. Russia strengthens epidemic prevention in the capital The authorities of Moscow, Russia said they will continue to strengthen disease prevention and control such as requiring people to wear medical masks and gloves in public spaces such as restaurants and bars amid the number of infections in the country. This city has recently grown strongly. Channel News Asia quoted data from the Russian Ministry of Health on June 9, saying that in the past 24 hours, the country recorded an additional 10,407 infections. In particular, in Moscow, the authorities have recorded 4,142 new infections, the highest level since mid-January. “The epidemic situation is getting worse in Moscow due to the increasing number of infections,” said official Yevgeny Danchikov. China approves 7th vaccine According to the Global Times on June 9, China approved the 7th Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine was developed by the Biomedical Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Kunming City, China. Yunnan province, southwestern China. According to China’s Science and Technology Daily, phase 1 and 2 clinical trials have shown that the vaccine is effective, which can quickly induce an immune response in the injected person’s body. On the same day, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said that more than 808 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been distributed across China as of June 8. Some other developments on the epidemic Updated at 5 am on June 10 of the Worldometers statistics page, the Covid-19 epidemic is raging in 220 countries and territories, infecting more than 175.1 million people and claiming the lives of more than 3, 7 million patients. The number of recoveries reached over 158.9 million cases. India continues to experience a terrible day with the number of new infections reaching more than 93,900 and the death toll over 6,100. So far, the country has a total of 29.1 million positive cases and more than 359,000 deaths. Brazil also faces serious contagion and death when it records 84,600 new infections to the list of more than 17.1 million patients, and more than 2,200 victims to a total of 479,500 deaths from Covid-19. Tuan Tran

COVAX-19 mechanism. (Artwork: ABC News) In 2020, the Mechanism of “Global Access to Vaccines Against Covid-19” (COVAX for short) was established to help all countries have the opportunity to have quick, equitable and equal access to vaccines. prevent Covid-19. However, the goals of the above initiative are being “missed” due to lack of capital and selfishness of some developed countries. Launched in 2020, COVAX aims to buy two billion doses of vaccine to distribute to countries supporting the fight against Covid-19 before the end of 2021. However, the above ambitious plan is at risk of bankruptcy when Statistics show that, so far, only 68 million doses of vaccine from COVAX have been delivered, reaching 3.4% of the plan. Meanwhile, by the end of May 2021, there were 1.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine distributed worldwide, but only about 0.3% of them reached countries with low income. low input. World health experts point out that the disappointing results mentioned above are not due to the lack of efforts by the people in charge of the COVAX program of the World Health Organization (WHO), but mainly due to a lack of funding. There is a shortage of vaccine supplies, and rich countries are unwilling to share vaccines with poor countries. COVAX is intended to be a not-for-profit financial attraction structure. Accordingly, rich countries contribute financially to research many different vaccines at the same time to find some effective vaccines, and then provide them for free to 92 low-income countries who cannot afford to buy them. vaccine against Covid-19. For this mechanism to work, there needs to be enough rich countries to invest and commit to receive vaccines through COVAX. However, in reality, this initiative did not receive the necessary funds to support research and purchase the vaccine in the early stages. Even, many rich countries have signed contracts to buy vaccines individually with manufacturers such as Pfizer, Moderna, delaying the implementation of contracts for large-scale production of vaccines in 2021 under the COVAX mechanism. A major problem hindering COVAX’s vaccine supply efforts is the tight supply of vaccines. Part of the reason for this is the serious epidemic situation in India. The main vaccine supplier for COVAX is the Serum Institute of India, which is producing the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, with the outbreak of the disease, the planned supply of vaccine for COVAX had to be diverted to serve India’s domestic demand. WHO and the Global Vaccine Alliance Gavi, representing the organizations initiating the COVAX Mechanism, have just issued a statement stating that an additional $2 billion is needed to increase the coverage of immunization programs to nearly 30 million. %. To secure vaccine delivery this year and early 2022, COVAX needs the above amount before June 2 to close the supply. According to the original target, COVAX is expected to provide two billion doses of vaccine to countries in 2021 and 1.8 billion doses in early 2022. “Financial bottlenecks” are hindering goals and efforts COVAX’s vaccine delivery force. COVAX initiative managers also warn that, if the current emergency shortage of a Covid-19 vaccine is not addressed, “the consequences could be dire.” The above fact shows that COVAX’s “vaccine for everyone” and “leave no country behind” plan are being delayed. This is not only a problem of COVAX founders and managers, but a big global problem. Because, variants of this virus and new waves of epidemics can enter and re-emerge in developed countries at any time. The only way for humanity to win the current pandemic together is for governments and people of countries, especially developed countries, to share difficulties, distribute vaccines appropriately, and join hands to fight Covid-19.

The effectiveness of the vaccine so far cannot be denied. The United States, although not widely open to the world, has dragged down its number of infections in just the past few months. Based on data collected during vaccination, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that the effectiveness of major vaccines such as Pfizer or Moderna is up to 95%. even with new variants. This makes it possible for American people to comfortably go out without having to wear a mask, while the US Government considers lifting the ban on international movement. Similar effects have also been observed in Israel and Europe, where vaccination rates have reached 60% – that is, herd immunity can be generated. The “miracle” that brought life back to its normal rhythm seemed to be at last. Small doses of vaccines are becoming the hope of the whole world in the fight against COVID. However, at the same time, a new wave of infections broke out in India. Since mid-April, an additional 5 million new infections have been recorded in this South Asian country. The number of new infections continuously reached approximately 300 thousand cases per day, of which several thousand people died from the disease every day. The epidemic tsunami was so great that it knocked down India’s health system in just a few days, a real disaster. It is hard to believe, until the 4th wave of infections broke out, India was the country with the 3rd highest number of COVID vaccines in the world and was a hope for the whole world thanks to its huge vaccine supply. However, the number of nearly 100 million doses of vaccine administered out of a population of 1.3 billion is still too small to achieve a state of herd immunity, as epidemiologists hope. The government’s subjectivity then caused the contagion to erupt violently at a time when major religious ceremonies were held in this huge country. Consequences for the people and country of India so far have not been fully enumerated, but more dangerous, it is slowing down the whole world’s efforts to open up, when the supply of vaccines is mainly for people. Poor countries under the WHO COVAX program have stalled, because India has urgently applied a ban on vaccine exports to save itself first. In addition, the fourth wave of infections has also begun to spread around the world, from Asia, Africa to South America, where vaccination rates are far from reaching the thresholds that can create health problems. herd immunity. No one can stand alone The Indians cannot be blamed for the decision to close the vaccine supply at this time, because indeed the images and death figures every day in the newspaper make anyone horrified. Before that, it was India that took the lead in efforts to help the poorer people to have access to 66 million doses of vaccine in the first quarter of this year. Now that responsibility needs to be reinforced. In contrast, the US, UK, EU and Israel have come up with plans to reopen. Learning from India’s mistakes, these countries have been more cautious. From May 23, tourists can return to Israel and the EU if they comply with the mandatory conditions. The problem is that if that rule is followed, there are not many qualified guests. Because, in addition to having received the correct vaccines recognized by the EU, that traveler must also be from countries with the number of new infections below 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the previous 14 days. Those are the countries that the EU calls “safe”. However, there are currently only 7 countries outside the EU that meet this criterion, such as Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, etc., but that list does not include the US. That is, the invitation to travel to Europe is still only “give it up”. The door was opened but very few people could enter. The “Indian lesson” makes us realize that vaccination speed will determine the success or failure of a global vaccine strategy. As the United States and Israel quickly immunized the majority of the population, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was easily defeated. But, the drip vaccination rate will not be enough to create herd immunity and even allow the virus to mutate against the same old vaccines. Finding a vaccine for the poor is never easy. The fourth wave of contagion, therefore, has broken out in these very countries, with new variants that are more dangerous and could completely hit countries that already have high vaccination rates. Therefore, in order to solve the problem at the root, it is the rich countries that will have to take the lead in a new effort, to rescue the worldwide shortage of vaccines. Conflicts of interest A group of 13 countries has been identified by the World Bank (WB) as holding control and global distribution of vaccines. Among these, there are of course big countries like India, China, Russia, the G7 group and a few other European countries like Austria, Switzerland, Sweden. They are collectively known with a beautiful name, “The Club of Vaccine Producing Countries”. This club controls up to 88% of vaccines and 91% of vaccine companies in the world. Among them, mainly developed countries in the West. It is not surprising that the US and EU have achieved the highest vaccination rates in the world in a short time. Despite earlier claims to share vaccines with the world, “vaccine nationalism” prevailed initially. They have even started to have an oversupply of vaccine in their inventory after the last 3 months of intense vaccination. Therefore, when making the call for the rescue of vaccines in the world, both WHO and the United Nations are directly targeting this group of countries. Now it’s time for them to extend their hand to play the role of “saving the world”. However, this is also the time when the controversy broke out the most. The US has announced that it will deliver 70 million doses of its vaccine to developing countries between now and July. The EU will also contribute back to the COVAX program, after a temporary withdrawal to keep the vaccine for itself. But, even so, it’s still not enough. Because the most advanced vaccines being used by the US and EU require extremely complex preservation technologies that are not easy for poor or developing countries to meet. In Africa, hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines have been destroyed, even though they still have their expiry date, because they cannot guarantee the storage conditions on the way to users. This situation may be even more serious, when the number of vaccines from the EU and the US is brought in in large numbers in the near future. And the cost of high-end vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna is never cheap, when Pfizer – BioNtech or Moderna apply the most advanced technologies that not even Russia or China have access to. A new call has been made, for rich countries to share vaccine copyrights with poor countries, in order to create a vaccine that suits them. However, advanced genetic technologies are copyrighted by major pharmaceutical companies, where they want to hold the secret not only for this COVID vaccine. As a result, the controversy has shifted from the states to the people of the vaccine-hungry poor countries, with the wealthy owners of the big pharmaceutical companies. Loss of motivation to research to find new products is the reason that big pharmaceutical companies rely on to protect their patents. Meanwhile, inequality in vaccine distribution has serious consequences for the lives of hundreds of millions of other people. Still, it wasn’t easy for those wealthy owners to give in. Therefore, before relying on the “kindness” of pharmaceutical companies, the most concrete thing that rich countries can do is probably just to try to fill this inequality by giving poor countries the opportunity to do so. access to their starting surplus vaccine resources. Saving people is actually saving yourself.
Tu Uyen

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Reuters At a press conference on the same day, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus affirmed that global inequality in access to vaccines remains one of the biggest risks to efforts to end the pandemic. According to WHO data, high- and middle-income countries that account for 53% of the world’s total population have received 83% of global vaccines. In contrast, low- and middle-income countries that account for 47 percent of the world’s population received only 17 percent of vaccines. Therefore, the head of the global health agency believes that cooperation is the only choice for the world to achieve the above goal. “We cannot defeat this pandemic through competition. If competition for resources or geopolitical advantage, the virus will prevail,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Previously, on May 7, WHO approved the BBIBP-CorV Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm pharmaceutical company for use in emergencies. China has decided to provide 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to WHO’s COVAX global vaccine access mechanism, to meet the needs of developing countries. This move will help alleviate vaccine shortages globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Step 1: Visit https://www.bluezone.gov.vn or download directly at App Store or CH Play. Step 2: Once downloaded, the application will ask for permission to use Bluetooth to record contact with other Bluezone installed users. If Bluetooth is not open, drag the status bar and turn on Bluetooth; or go to Settings, select Bluetooth and turn it on. Step 3: Once the installation is done, click Scan Around. If someone near you less than 2m has used Bluezone, the application will automatically identify these users and put them in the contact list.

Tourists to Maldives. (Source: PSM News) Located in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, the Maldives has always been a popular destination and a major attraction for travelers looking for a quality vacation and leisure time. The Maldives is heavily dependent on the tourism industry as it is the main source of foreign currency earnings contributing to the national economy. However, the Covid-19 pandemic occurring around the world, resulting in travel restrictions, has had a significant impact, even a recession, on the country’s economy. On January 30, 2020, the Maldives recorded its first suspected case of corona virus. From the end of March to July 2020, this country was forced to close its borders to tourists, bringing the economy to a standstill. After stopping international flights for more than three months since the start of the pandemic, on July 15, 2020, the Maldives reopened its borders, being one of the first major global tourist destinations to open. back door for foreign visitors. The Maldives Ministry of Tourism has issued the Covid-19 Safe Travel Guide along with a certification program that ensures the safety and hygiene standards of all tourist facilities including accommodation, transportation, airport and other related facilities. Accordingly, the Maldives introduces a program called “Vaccination Tourism” that allows visitors to the country to travel without having to wait until the vaccine trial is completed. The Maldives also offers a distinctive ‘one-island-one-resort’ concept, allowing visitors to maintain social distancing while enjoying a truly safe and secluded stay. As a result, last year, the island nation welcomed 555,000 tourists to visit the Maldives and welcomed more than 400,000 tourists since the beginning of January this year. The Covid-19 vaccine program in the Maldives was started on March 1, with 200,000 doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca “Covishield” vaccine funded by the Indian government. To date, Maldives has also received 12,000 doses of Covishield vaccine through COVAX and 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China. With 36% of residents fully vaccinated, the Maldives is currently the fifth most immunized country. With an adequate supply of vaccines, the Maldives is also preparing to launch a “vaccine on arrival” program as soon as all of its population has been vaccinated. However, the nation of islands with a population of 340,000, is currently struggling with an increase in the number of Covid-19 infections, the number of infections increased to a record in a day of 1,500 cases on May 6 compared to May 6. with less than 100 cases just a month ago. White sand resorts and beaches, have been reported to be home to the fastest Covid-19 outbreaks in the world. The average number of new infections recorded in the Maldives every day has reached a new high. To date, there have been 87 deaths related to Covid-19 in the Maldives, including 74 locals, 11 foreign nationals. The Maldives government is forced to take strict measures to contain the current situation. As part of its efforts, the Maldives government has decided to suspend the issuance of tourist visas to visitors originating from South Asian countries, effective from May 13. The ban will also apply to travelers who stay more than 24 hours, have transited or have been to the listed countries within the previous 14 days. Restaurants and cafes are only allowed to open for delivery and takeout, and indoor dining is prohibited. From May 12, a partial curfew was in place in the capital Malé from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., for a week. Some other restrictions include moving government agencies’ activities to an online service, banning group prayer at mosques, and suspending students at universities from going to school. (according to Vietnam Embassy in Sri Lanka concurrently Maldives)

Medical staff treat COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Riga, Latvia. Photo: THX/VNA The report also highlights the importance of “overhauling” the global alarm system to prevent a similar disaster from happening again. Report “COVID-19: Making it the Last Pandemic” produced by the Independent Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) at the request of World Health Organization member countries. world (WHO). As policymakers make a series of ineffective decisions, the report says, adding to the scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the pandemic has killed at least 3.3 million people so far, while the global economy has been devastated. According to the IPPR, institutions “failed to protect the people” while leaders denying scientific data has eroded public confidence in health interventions. The lack of urgency in the early response to the COVID-19 outbreak detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 led to unfortunate consequences, when February 2020 became the “lost month”. cool” seriously in the context that the alarm situation has not been paid enough attention by countries. IPPR also said that WHO could have declared a global public health emergency (PHEIC), the highest alert level, on January 22, 2020. Instead, it took the organization eight days to do this. Then, only in March 2020 after WHO recognized COVID-19 as a pandemic, did countries realize the danger of the situation and really “get involved”. Ineffective strategic choices, unwillingness to address inequality issues, and “disparity” in coordination within a country or between countries have created a “toxic formula” that creates favorable conditions. for the COVID-19 pandemic to turn into “a catastrophic human crisis”. The threat of a pandemic has been ignored and countries are struggling to deal with its consequences. In order to reverse the current pandemic, IPPR recommends that the world’s richest countries from now until September 1 share 1 billion doses of vaccine to the 92 poorest countries through a mechanism of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines called COVID-19 vaccine. WHO-initiated COVAX and more than 2 billion doses of vaccine by mid-2022. IPPR calls on the world’s leading industrialized countries (G7) to pay 60% of the $19 billion needed to fund vaccine development, development diagnostic and therapeutic approaches through the WHO-led “Accelerated Access to COVID-19 Response Tools” global collaboration to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics to countries poorer. Health workers give people a COVID-19 vaccine in Essen, Germany. Photo: THX/VNA According to the committee, the group of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) and others need to support the rest. The WHO and the World Trade Organization (WTO) themselves also need to encourage countries and vaccine manufacturers to voluntarily agree to license and transfer technology to produce vaccines against COVID-19. To address future outbreaks and pandemics, the IPPR calls for the creation of a Global Health Threat Response Council made up of world leaders, as well as a convention on pandemics. Translate. The G20 should also set up an international pandemic response financing mechanism, whereby $5-10 billion can be spent per year on ensuring epidemic preparedness capacity, as well as ensuring readiness to mobilize $50 billion to $100 billion in the event of a crisis. Speaking at the event to announce the report, WHO Director-General Tedros Gebreyesus said the organization will join 194 members to discuss the above recommendations as well as the opinions of other expert groups, aiming to “construct” Stronger WHO, for a healthier, safer and fairer future for all of us.”

Nigeria will become the next big Covid-19 “outbreak” after India. (Source: Anadolu Agency/Getty) And experts are cautiously observing a developing country, with a large area, disparities in health services and unequal access to vaccines, like India, that is Nigeria. With 200 million people, it is the most populous country in West Africa and the 7th most populous country in the world. Ngozi Erondui, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House Center for Global Health Security in the UK, said that “Nigeria is really vulnerable” and “has a lot in common with India”. When rich countries are not willing to share The world will not be able to do anything to prevent Covid-19 from ravaging Nigeria like the situation is happening in the past days in India. A more equitable distribution of vaccines could build a “firewall” against the rise in infections in Nigeria, as well as in other less developed countries. However, that will require the more economically developed countries of the world to share rescue resources with poorer countries. The tragic case of India proves that the vaccine-rich country in the world will not be in a hurry to help poor countries on distant continents. In fact, Africa is not necessarily synonymous with “poverty”. The continent is huge and diverse, comprising 54 countries with 1.2 billion people running economies from large to small, rich to poor, strong to weak. Likewise, African countries’ pandemic experiences vary widely. South Africa, one of the wealthiest countries on the continent, was hit hard last summer and then returned in January. Officials in the region recorded more than 54,000 deaths. The mortality rate is 93 deaths per 100,000 population, a number far below the US 175 deaths per 100,000 population, but much higher than the global average of 38 deaths. per 100,000 inhabitants. So far, many less industrialized African countries have avoided catastrophic spikes in infections, recording fewer deaths than rich countries. A total of 580,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 while only 1,600 Nigerians have died from the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 virus – “opportunistic” virus However, that doesn’t mean Covid-19 won’t reach Nigeria and other African countries, it just means it hasn’t arrived yet. Lawrence Gostin, a global health expert at Georgetown University, told T he Daily Beast : “I am seeing the possibility that the Covid-19 fires will ravage around the world in the weeks and months to come. And I’m most worried about Africa.” According to Mr. Gostin, “the crisis in India is a leading indicator of what is to come in other low- and middle-income countries”. Despite its crowded cities, limited public health measures and a patchwork health care system, India has so far been considered relatively fortunate. The South Asian country has 1.37 billion people but only 160,000 deaths so far in March, with a rate of 11 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Then, in April, a new and more contagious variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known as B.1.617, emerged and spread across India, causing a record increase in cases and deaths. green. In just a few weeks, India had nearly 50,000 more deaths. The death rate rose to 15 per 100,000 population. When this article was published, the Covid-19 wave in India was underway, but the trend was already decreasing. The rate of new cases and deaths is decreasing. And while it is predicted that tens of thousands of more Indians will die before this spike is over, at least the pandemic has not gotten any worse in the country. But the SARS-CoV-2 virus is an opportunistic virus. It always finds places that are densely populated but have no protection. Spreading through the air from person to person, Covid-19 establishes a “laboratory” in each body that the virus infects. Each SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates after two weeks of infection for as long as it is active, and seeks to evolve so that it can create a new variant that is increasingly contagious. New variants help the virus spread even faster in a self-reinforcing cycle that ends only with drastic social distancing, vaccinations and antibodies among survivors, or more likely a combination of the virus. all three methods to cut off the transmission route of Covid-19. It is no coincidence that SARS-CoV-2 thrived in India this month. Popular religious festivals have attracted thousands of people who attended without wearing masks. Meanwhile, India’s vaccination effort is very bad. According to statistics, the South Asian country has fully vaccinated only 3% of the population, compared with more than 30% in the US. The global average for full immunization is also a little over 3%. From the epidemiologist’s point of view, Nigeria, with its many overcrowded cities, high poverty rates and shabby health system, is quite similar to India, but worse in some respects. India has at least some domestic vaccine manufacturers, while Nigeria has none. The African country must import all doses of the vaccine from outside. That explains why Nigeria only partially immunizes 1% of the population and almost no one is fully vaccinated. The Lagos government is expected to receive 84 million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson in the coming weeks. But that number is only enough to inject a fifth of the country’s population. Meanwhile, the proportion that experts say could lead to “herd immunity” is vaccination of three-quarters of the population, which blocks most routes of transmission and can last up to year 2022. Shortage side, surplus side To help Nigeria and the underserved countries, the rich countries of the world should stop hoarding vaccines excessively. Of course, more shots are not a panacea, and even a country with many vaccines can have trouble administering. However, the vaccine shortage, and the hesitation among people who doubt the vaccine’s effectiveness, could further slow the vaccination process. Shaun Truelove, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that “the only way to know if Nigeria is managing vaccines well is to keep shipping the vaccine to the country”. Global supply is not the biggest problem. The United States, a country with many vaccine manufacturers, has a stockpile of more than 60 million doses of vaccine while continuing to have more vaccines supplied by factories, while vaccination rates are falling. especially for Republicans. It was only a few weeks after the sudden spike in Covid-19 in India that the administration of President Joe Biden promised to ship an additional number of vaccines to New Delhi. The AstraZeneca vaccine isn’t even authorized in the US. For Americans, those doses of vaccines are not only redundant but also useless. The problem of severe delays in the release of excess vaccines was anticipated a year ago. In the spring of 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) together with a number of international public-private partners, came together to establish the Global Access to Vaccines Covid-19 initiative, or COVAX. The COVAX initiative allows rich countries to pay for vaccines to poor countries. COVAX’s goal was to deliver 100 million doses by March, but it actually delivered less than 40 million doses. “This has failed Nigeria and many countries,” Mr. Erondu said [trong việc tiêm chủng]”. America is part of the problem. The Trump administration has refused to sign on to COVAX, a move that reflects its narrow “America First” philosophy. The Trump administration at the time either didn’t understand, or didn’t care, that vaccinating poor countries also helped protect rich countries. After all, the virus doesn’t care about borders. Mr. Biden reversed the decision in February. The administration has committed $4 billion in cash, making the US the largest donor of COVAX, albeit somewhat belatedly. In a parallel move, Mr. Biden also signaled support for a controversial proposal to give the WTO a copyright exemption for a Covid-19 vaccine. In theory, the decision would allow any manufacturer in any country to produce doses of the vaccine. However, experts are still divided on whether the patent waiver will lead to more doses of the vaccine being shipped to countries in need. Meanwhile, many richer countries have been slow to implement their COVAX commitments. Meanwhile, strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to target unprotected populations from one area to another. Nigeria is about to become the “storm center” of Covid-19. However, this West African country may not suffer the same fate as India. Because vaccines are available. Existing mechanisms will get the vaccine to the countries that need it most. It is worth mentioning that many countries have a surplus of vaccines but do not appreciate the importance of sharing vaccines with other countries. (According to Daily Beast)

Currently, visitors to the Maldives must provide a negative PCR test and proof of hotel reservations in order to gain entry. Maldives Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom recently said the Maldives’ Health Protection Agency is about to announce the lifting of entry restrictions for tourists who have completed their vaccinations. In addition, the country is preparing to deploy the 3V strategy “Visit, vaccinate, vacation” to attract and facilitate international tourists. Maldives is known as “paradise of relaxation”. Source: Getty Images However, the Maldives has not decided on the time of implementing this program. The government will first give priority to the people, to ensure that they are fully vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. When that process is completed, the country will be ready to vaccinate foreign visitors to visit and travel. So far, about 53% of the approximately 530,000 inhabitants of the island nation have received the first dose; this includes about 90% of frontline travel workers. It is not clear if tourists will have to pay for the vaccine, but the leader said vaccine supplies should not be an issue for the Maldives. The island nation receives vaccine funding from India, China and the World Health Organization’s Covax program; In addition, they also ordered more vaccines from Singapore. This year, the Maldives has welcomed 350,000 visitors, mainly visitors from neighboring country India. In addition, a large number of visitors come here under the “workation” model, with longer stays to work remotely. Minister Mausoom said that these long-stay guests will also receive two doses of vaccine. The 2021 target of the Maldives is to welcome 1.5 million visitors and 10 million room nights.

The new initiative aims to attract tourists to revitalize the Maldives economy, which largely depends on tourism. (Source: MTN) Maldives is an archipelagic country in South Asia, famous for its tropical climate and pristine waters, and depends heavily on tourism. About 67% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is sourced directly and indirectly from the tourism industry. Currently, visitors to the Maldives must provide a negative PCR test for Covid-19 and proof of hotel reservation in order to be admitted. Maldives Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom recently said that the Maldives Health Protection Agency is about to announce the lifting of the entry restrictions for tourists who have completed the vaccination. In addition, the country is preparing to implement the 3V strategy – “Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation” to attract and facilitate international tourists. However, the Maldives has not decided on the time of implementing this program. The government will give priority to the people first and foremost, ensuring that all are vaccinated with 2 doses of Covid-19 vaccine. When that process is completed, the country will be ready to vaccinate foreign visitors to visit and travel. To date, 53% of the island nation’s approximately 530,000 residents have received the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, which includes 90% of frontline travel workers. It is not clear if tourists will have to pay for the vaccine, but the leader said vaccine supplies should not be an issue for the Maldives. The island nation receives vaccine funding from India, China and the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX program; In addition, they also ordered more vaccines from Singapore. This year, the Maldives has welcomed 350,000 visitors, mainly visitors from neighboring country India. In addition, a large number of visitors come here under the “workation” model, with longer stays to work remotely. Minister Mausoom said these long-stay guests will also receive two doses of the vaccine. The target for the whole year 2021 of the Maldives is to welcome 1.5 million visitors and 10 million hotel nights. (according to VOV / CNBC)

The deadly “tsunami” called COVID-19 is sweeping across the Indian subcontinent, leaving tragedies that scare the world. With each passing day, India has recorded more tragic records of the number of people infected with COVID-19 as well as the number of deaths from this deadly virus since the outbreak of the epidemic in China more than a year. before. For days in a row, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached a world record, exceeding 300,000, while the number of deaths steadily exceeds a terrible threshold of 3,000 people per day. This South Asian nation’s health system showed signs of not tolerating the aggressive attack of COVID-19. Hospitals refused to accept patients with COVID-19 because they were completely overloaded. Newspapers reported that patients who reached the hospital gate died there because they were not admitted. Many hospitals deplete their oxygen supply, causing the death of patients to be abnormally high. Photo: LG In particular, hospitals such as Gorakhpur have had to make the painful option of withdrawing the ventilators of elderly patients who have not improved after a long period of treatment. to give oxygen to young patients with a greater chance of life. The crematoriums were nearly melted down by not turning off the fire for 24 hours a day. And even when running at full capacity, the crematorium could not handle the number of corpses caused by COVID-19, causing people to organize cremation in open areas. The pictures of the crematoriums burning red fire day and night are like scenes from horror movies about hell. The world is horrified by the tragic scene, at the dire consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The frightening thing is that it seems that these deadly scenes are not yet the culmination of the pandemic. Many experts make gloomy predictions about the number of people infected and dying in India will continue to rise and peak in the days of May 2021. Meanwhile, the lack of oxygen continues to put enormous pressure on the oxygen plants. Once considered a drugstore in the world, a source of vaccines against COVID-19 for other countries, now India itself is in a shortage of vaccines, having to import … All signal a gloomy future before the epidemic in this South Asian country. Wrong chain Because a country that only a few weeks ago confidently thought that it had entered the final stage of the war against COVID-19 and successfully controlled a pandemic, is now suddenly engulfed in a “tsunami”. This death? In March 2020, India is one of the rare countries in the world implementing a national blockade to fight pandemics, a harsh measure not easy to take for a country with 1.3 billion people. This measure may have had serious consequences for the Indian economy as well as the well-being of the people. However, for the Indian authorities at that time, the threat of COVID-19 was the greatest one, existing and must be prevented at all costs, from spreading it. This strong measure has yielded positive results. The number of deaths is much lower than experts predicted. The number of daily infections also plummeted after reaching a peak of 100,000 per day in September 2020. It was at that time that began a series of mistakes that would cost India a hefty price point later. The first is the erroneous belief that India can achieve a state of public immunity to easily overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. This belief stems from studies that suggest that the majority of Indians, except for the rich and middle-class, from working outdoors a lot, absorb a large amount of vitamin D, thus increasing the body’s ability. resistant to viruses. These theorists claim that the low mortality in the late 2020 period supports this point. But, they have not learned a valuable lesson from countries like Sweden or the UK, which have had time to misplace their beliefs in community immunity and thus have suffered painful consequences. pain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. After a period of social “relax” with belief in community immunity and as a result, the number of infections and the death rate skyrocketed compared to other countries with the same social conditions, gender. These countries are forced to formally admit mistakes in terms of policies, leading to tragic consequences for society. The mistakes made by these countries in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate that in critical moments, the right policy is needed and is more valuable than a single dose of vaccine. fabricated). If the policy is wrong, not only a few individuals but the whole society will have to pay the price. But, the second mistake is the main cause of the current humanitarian tragedy in India. Until early 2021, the Indian authorities acted as if the COVID-19 pandemic ceased to exist. Large rallies are allowed. In particular, despite the risks of transmitting COVID-19 in a crowded environment, Indian officials have allowed millions of believers to participate in religious festivals with the policy of “belief in God will win. fear of viruses ”. A typical example of this phenomenon is the Kumbh Mela festival, one of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage ceremonies that take place on the banks of the Ganges River with millions in attendance. Most of the millions of people gathered in this place without masks, without spacing, turning such festivals into “super infectious” events, the ideal environment for the virus to spread at breakneck speed. , sowing invisible death would turn tragedy for days afterward … For whom the Bell Tolls! The world has not underestimated the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Until the tragedy struck, the prospect of a global catastrophe stemming from a pandemic raging in India emerged. Considered to be the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, India has participated in the vaccine supply chain for poor, developing countries around the world. Currently, preliminary statistics show that up to 92 developing countries depend on supplies of vaccines from India. The COVID-19 pandemic broke out in India on a large scale, creating a favorable environment for the mutant virus to form new strains. By the time India was caught in the midst of COVID-19, which led to a shortage of vaccines and a slow pace of vaccination, it was natural that Indian authorities tightened exports of COVID vaccines. -19 abroad. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, India joined the COVAX program to provide equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Until the COVID-19 “tsunami” hit, India froze vaccine exports, including for the COVAX program, to save vaccines for use to meet domestic demand. As a result, the worldwide supply chain of vaccines is under enormous pressure; At least 92 poor countries that received vaccines from the COVAX program were severely affected. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India’s withdrawal from the program to worry about domestic issues caused COVAX to lack 90 million doses of vaccine planned for 60 low-income countries in March and April. Another, more significant concern is that the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in India, with many untreated people, has been a favorable environment for the virus to mutate, creating new strains, which are more virulent, and “smarter” to adapt to human-made vaccines. It is also worth mentioning that new variants of the COVID virus in India have been discovered and have entered dozens of countries around the world, posing a big challenge to the global health network. for example, countries with weak health systems themselves. Realizing those risks, the world has frantically rushed in to help India overcome the aftermath of the pandemic. The US, UK, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are rushing to send breathing machines and vaccine materials, while a number of other countries have also pledged to assist India to overcome the crisis. France, New Zealand and Spain pledged to share some of their dosages with the COVAX program to help reduce vaccine shortage tensions for poor countries due to India’s withdrawal from the program. Even China, which is in a state of border dispute with India, has announced it will send the vaccine to its neighbor, but did not say how much and when to send it. It seems that, in the meantime, helping India is also helping me! Please do not ask who is the bell for your soul, the bell for your soul!
Yen Ba

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the largest immunization campaign in human history with the aim of distributing vaccine doses to 190 countries and limiting the risk of dangerous mutations. However, this project is currently racing against time. The man trying to save the world now stands in a Connecticut kindergarten, USA. He puts his laptop in front of him and sunlight is shining through the window into a crib. Benjamin Schreiber is barefoot and his hair is messy. The 46-year-old seems to have just woken up, but almost every day, he gets up from sunrise. His job is one of the most important and difficult in the world. As the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Head of Immunization Team (UNICEF), Schreiber is responsible for ensuring that 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine reach people in the poorest countries, the most distant. In an online meeting with colleagues in Germany, Panama and Haiti, Schreiber discussed his “headache” for the day: The situation is stagnant in two countries. Countries that buy the most Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Duke Global Health Innovation Center Referring to a country where outsiders are difficult to reach, Schreiber said: “It is not clear how things are going”. In the remaining country – Haiti, the first potential vaccine shipment has been delayed. The vaccination team appears to be ready, but political and social issues are hindering shipping. Fuel in Haiti is expensive, roads are poor, budgets are miscalculated. Many people do not believe in Western aid, others do not understand Covid-19. There are discussions like this every day Schreiber. On a small scale, it often involves questions about the proper way to cool vaccines, about ingenuity in dealing with governments. However, at the core of the matter has always been global justice. The new strain corona virus has spread to every continent and infected at least 128 million people. It has ruined economies and destroyed families. Up to now, a global medical emergency has been in effect for more than a year. Citizens in some developed countries have been protected from the corona virus and many others in Africa, Asia and Latin America are still waiting to be vaccinated. Carrying vaccines to remote areas in Nepal. Photo: SPIEGEL To date, nearly 600 million doses of the vaccine have been used around the world. However, nearly two-thirds of them are used in six countries. About 60% of Israelis, less than half of Britons and one-tenth of Germans have been vaccinated at least once. In Namibia, where a population of more than 2 million people, less than 1,500 people have been vaccinated. In some other countries, no one has been vaccinated yet. Earlier this year, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a “moral disaster”. An effort has been made to prevent that disaster. A global mechanism, called COVAX, was born to support the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to countries. WHO launched the initiative a year ago and a vaccine consortium called GAVI and the Alliance for Pandemic Readiness Innovation (CEPI) also joined. Almost every country in the world participates in COVAX. Many countries and regions have attempted to smooth the infection curve of Covid-19. Photo: John Hopkins University COVAX’s goal is that 92 of the poorest member countries get vaccines as fast as 98 rich countries. The rich countries pay more for the initiative and the poorest countries get discounts or free vaccinations, with each country vaccinating a fifth of its population by the end of the year. It is UNICEF’s responsibility to ensure that vaccines reach their destination. The new strain corona virus is constantly changing. Most changes do not affect the degree of danger posed by the virus, but some mutations, like the strains that occurred in Brazil and the US, do. And the more the number of countries experiencing uncontrolled outbreaks, the more likely the world will have to deal with the next mutation. So how do you vaccinate those most threatened, such as the elderly, the sick, and health care workers around the world? How can COVAX achieve its ambitious goals? Graph of increasing Covid-19 cases among countries. Photo: Bloomberg A group of German magazine Der Spiegel reporters have followed the vaccine around the world. They went to vaccine factories in India, to warehouses in Copenhagen, Denmark. It all goes to the end: The vaccine is delivered to health workers in Malawi, who received their first shot in March. The reporters also witnessed a German at a kindergarten. in the US to plan vaccine distribution. Schreiber has been with UNICEF for 8 years. His biggest challenge last year, he said, was preparing nations for a short period of time. COVAX’s goal is to ship about 2 billion doses of vaccine by the end of this year, corresponding to about 850 tons of vaccine per month and 1 billion syringes. Thousands of cooling boxes have to be transported to the most remote corners of the world by jeeps, boats, drones and even donkeys. Even in normal years, UNICEF vaccinates nearly every child around the world. However, UNICEF has never faced a global pandemic. The Republic of Seychelles is currently leading the world because there are enough vaccines for 63.1% of the population. Photo: Bloomberg. Immunization campaigns are usually planned many years in advance, but this time only a few months. Vaccine recipients are diverse, some have been successful, some have failed, some have only a few hundred thousand people, some have more than a billion. Countries were asked by UNICEF to explain in writing how they intend to manage the logistics of vaccinations. Schreiber read over 100 of these lengthy plans, mostly twice. He corrects and makes suggestions for improvements. Most of the time, things go well, but sometimes it doesn’t. The governments of Tanzania, Eritrea and Madagascar are still debating that Covid-19 is a dangerous disease. However, the effort paid off. On February 24, the first shipment of COVAX landed in Ghana. The first shipment to Haiti is also planned. By the end of March, UNICEF had distributed 20 million doses of the vaccine to 47 countries.

The porter is sending the boxes of vaccines to Jumla (Nepal). Photo source: UNICEF The corona virus has spread to every continent, now infecting at least 128 million people worldwide. How widespread the epidemic was, devastating economies there. Many people in Africa, Asia and Latin America are waiting to be vaccinated. So far, nearly 600 million doses of the vaccine have been used around the world, but two-thirds of them are in just six countries. About 60% of Israelis have been vaccinated once, 50% of Britons have been vaccinated, and 1 out of 10 Germans get it. In Namibia, where a population of more than 2 million people, less than 1500 people are vaccinated. Aside from Namibia, no African country has received the vaccine. To prevent that, the COVAX project was born. WHO started COVAX a year ago, and the Vaccine Coalition (GAVI) and the Alliance for Epidemic Preparation Innovation (CEPI) are participating in nearly every country in the world. The goal is to have the 92 poorest members receive as many vaccines as the 98 richest members. It is expected that by the end of 2021, each country will receive the vaccine for 1/5 of the population. UNICEF wants vaccines to reach their destination, making them available to people regardless of race or wealth. So how can COVAX achieve its ambitious goals? Project 2 billion doses of vaccine to reach poor countries Mr. Benjamin Schreiber, COVAX Coordinator in Connecticut (USA) affirmed that the biggest challenge for countries is “preparing to vaccinate in a short time”. COVAX’s stated goal is to ship 2 billion doses of vaccine by the end of 2021, equivalent to 850 tons of vaccine / month and 1 billion syringes. Thousands of vaccine containers will reach the remotest corners of the earth by means of vehicles: Jeeps, boats, drones, and rickshaws. Countries receiving vaccine aid are diverse, some with developing economies, some with underdevelopment. Mr. Benjamin Schreiber, COVAX Coordinator in Connecticut (USA). Photo source: Katharina Poblotzki / Der Spiegel. Countries were required to send documents to UNICEF on how they plan to manage vaccine aid logistics: Which part of the population needs the vaccine most; Vaccine distribution plans from the airport to the rest of the country. On February 24, 2021, the first COVAX shipment landed in Ghana. By the end of March 2021, UNICEF had shipped 20 million doses of the vaccine to 47 countries. The strength of manufacturers The Indian Serum Institute (SII) is headquartered in Pune (West India), the world’s largest vaccine factory with 2.4 million doses of vaccine per day. SII is the creation of the vaccine that is being used to reach many parts of the world and its cost cannot be replicated right now. Of the more than 39 million doses of vaccine shipped by COVAX to date, 28 million have come from the Pune laboratories. India is a major supplier of COVAX. Currently, the country mainly produces vaccine AstraZeneca. But at the end of March 2021, the Indian government decided to stop the export of vaccines to a minimum when the number of new corona virus infections increased rapidly in this country. The New Delhi government’s decision to stockpile vaccines means COVAX will delay delivery of 90 million doses of vaccine to 63 receiving countries. There is currently no alternative manufacturing solution outside of India. The plane was carrying carton boxes containing COVID-19 vaccine at Mumbai airport in Maharashtra state (India) on 24 February 2021. Photo source: UNICEF / UN 0421823 / COVAX. Mr. Mounir Bouazar (head of the logistics division of COVAX in Copenhagen) has been preparing for 3-4 months for the first shipments of vaccines. By the end of 2020, Bouazar is certain that half a billion syringes will be distributed to four UNICEF warehouses in Copenhagen, Dubai, Panama and Shanghai. Now COVAX will deliver thousands of vaccines to their destination every day. But a pandemic makes it more difficult, with few or no flights due to limited travel. No flights to East Timor or the Pacific island nation have been requested by UNICEF. Vaccines and syringes moved to Yemen had to go to Nairobi, where Bouazar rented a small plane to carry vaccines and syringes. Bouazar hopes to ship more vaccines by mid-2021. There is an idea to make Bouazar’s work smoother right now: Suspend intellectual property rights to vaccines in a limited way during a pandemic. India and South Africa have filed requests to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend the COVID-19 vaccine and drug patents, which are supported by 100 countries. Then other companies can also make vaccines. COVAX coordinator Benjamin Schreiber is deploying COVID-19 vaccine to the poorest and most isolated countries in the world. Connecting with him are 2 colleagues of UNICEF branches in Panama and Haiti – 2 countries with immunization delays. In Haiti, the vaccination team is ready, but problems are hampering vaccine shipments. Fuel in Haiti is quite expensive, roads are poor … Schreiber persistently connects with people in Haiti every day. Nguyen Thanh Hai ( (According to spiegel, April 24, 2021) )

This has resulted in many countries that used to order large quantities of vaccines, but were unable to use them. And the liquidation of excess vaccine doses is becoming a new problem that causes these countries to “headache”. What is really happening According to the BBC, the cause comes from concerns about rare, and sometimes fatal, cases of blood clotting abnormality, after receiving even one dose of the AZ and J&J vaccines. . This concern is growing, especially among young people. The excess amount of Covid-19 vaccine is causing many countries to “headache”. Photo: AP Based on data from the British Drug Administration, for every 10 million people assumed to be vaccinated with the AZ vaccine, about 40 people develop abnormal blood clots, of which 10 are at risk of death. This proportion equates to the risk of dying from homicides or road accidents in the UK in 2018. That is why the Danish health authority decided to stop using the AZ vaccine in response to the “risk of serious side effects”. This decision means that the 2.4 million doses of unused AZ vaccine in Denmark are at risk of being recalled. South Africa also suspended the distribution of the vaccine, as it was found to be less effective against strains. The same goes for J&J’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine. Until safety investigation and testing is completed, the vaccine will not be approved for use in the US, which has 100 million pre-ordered doses. Number of ‘in stock’ vaccines Although there are no global overview data, individual country data can provide an overview of the current status of vaccine oversupply. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of more than 20% of vaccines in the United States are unused. However, some states also exceed this rate such as Alabama (37%), Alaska (35%), Vermont (27%) and North Carolina (24%). Similar circumstances are playing out in Europe, where several countries have enacted restrictions on AZ and J&J vaccination against older adults. Data from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDP) shows that out of a total of 202,920 doses of new AZ vaccine received by Denmark on April 15, 150,671 doses were distributed for vaccination. Danish medical director Soeren Brostroem said the AZ vaccine recall was a “difficult” decision. Photo: EPA Find a liquidation solution In theory, countries can still sell or donate vaccines they no longer use to other countries. On April 15, Hans Kluge, European Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that Denmark is looking to do this. “I understand that the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready or considering options to share the AstraZeneca vaccine with poorer countries,” Kluge said at a news conference. In the opposite direction, many neighboring countries with Denmark also offered to buy back. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has offered to be ready to receive a large number of AZ vaccines with Denmark. Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek also said that he had instructed a diplomat to declare the country’s interest in “buying all AZ vaccines from Denmark”. However, Copenhagen has yet to comment or respond to these requests. In the meantime, the vaccines are still stored in cold storage without an appointment for use. Share to the world Currently, Covax is considered the most feasible way for many countries to distribute their surplus vaccines to the world. With a mission to share vaccines fairly between countries, regardless of rich and poor, Covax aims to deliver more than 2 billion doses to people in 190 countries by the end of 2021. Photo: Reuters Some developed countries also plan to distribute their own excess vaccines. For example, the UK, which owns about 450 million doses of vaccine, has pledged to fund most of the “surplus” vaccine source to poorer countries. More than 1 million doses of the AZ vaccine recalled by South Africa were distributed to 14 other African countries. While it is not yet specific when or how many doses of vaccine will be distributed, this suggests that at least for now, developed countries still have a responsibility to share excess vaccine. to the world, through programs like Covax. In response to the BBC, the representative of the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization said: “With a limited supply of vaccines in the near future, doses of vaccines are donated from other countries. Surplus and equitable allocation through Covax will be the key solution, for equitable and rapid access to vaccines globally. We are talking to some high-income economies about their share of excess vaccines, and expect them to announce the deals soon. ” Vietnamese-English

The Minister of Health directed at the online conference on strengthening COVID-19 epidemic prevention – Photo: VGP / Hien Minh

At the online conference to strengthen prevention of the COVID-19 epidemic held on April 16, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that this Immunization Safety Steering Committee is responsible for setting the safety of vaccinations. to the top, always ready and confident in handling cases with post-injection reactions with the view of “where the injection is safe to get there”.

Also according to the Minister, during the first injection of AstraZeneca vaccine in 19 provinces and cities across the country, the surveillance system of the National Expanded Immunization Program recorded nearly 33% of vaccinated people having mild reactions. usually after injection and go away on its own after 1-2 days without the need for treatment or medical attention; About 1 (one thousandth) of cases of hypersensitivity reactions after injection have been properly managed, their health has stabilized, returned to work after 1-2 days of follow-up. treatment at a medical facility. In particular, to date, Vietnam has not recorded any cases of blood clots occurring after vaccination.

“The rate of 33% of people injected with normal mild reactions after injection and going away after 1-2 days is an acceptable number. With many of the current vaccines and the 5-in-1 vaccines being deployed in the expanded vaccination program, this rate could reach 50%. These are the very common reactions after vaccination, ”said Minister Nguyen Thanh Long.

With more than 811,000 doses of vaccine supported by COVAX, which just arrived in Vietnam on April 1, the Minister of Health asked localities to quickly and safely deploy injections, before May 15 to complete more than 811,000 doses. this. In particular, no dose of vaccine can be canceled due to not deploying the injection.

Meeting points online Conference – Photo: VGP / Hien Minh

At present, the epidemic situation in the world and neighboring countries with our country is still complicated, so the Minister emphasized that the control of COVID-19 epidemic in 2021 is still a challenge and difficulty. countries, including Vietnam, need to work to deal with it. Therefore, localities and people are not subjective, indifferent, always actively implement drastic measures to prevent epidemics.

The Minister also said that at present, the most “hot” region is the southwest border and the southwestern provinces. Therefore, the Ministry of Health suggested that these localities direct the maintenance of the border area by preventing illegal entry, making an important contribution to the fight against epidemics in the coming time. It will be difficult to control epidemics in the community.

Localities also need to proactively strengthen regular screening of places with a large concentration of people to detect cases, because the earlier we are screened, the more proactive we are in fighting the epidemic. This is a lesson from Cambodia, Thailand …, the Minister suggested.

Co-operate

In one way or another, all the basic elements of the World Order have been reshaped. Covid-19 easily crosses international borders; Countries have worked together on strategies to stop the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has played an important role in linking countries in modern health. The WHO is an organization that is underperforming when the US, under President Trump, has withdrawn from it.

Bringing the US back to WHO was one of the first orders President Biden made. Some scholars see this thoughtful US cooperation on the international arena as a move to unite against the rise of China. Trump’s “America First” approach means American protectionism, and Biden is said to have taken advantage of the opportunity created by the Covid-19 pandemic to match with allies in Asia.

Security

Countries rarely lean heavily towards human security standards defined by the United Nations in the 1994 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development report. Food security, economics and Health is one of the important components of human security. The pandemic has facilitated demonstrating the important nature of international institutions and cooperation. Security, therefore, has been redefined; Priorities have been shifted to health security.

The balance of strength

One might say that, in times of pandemic, nations have come together to counter this common challenge. However, this claim has not been endorsed by tough political thinkers. Disruption in the global economy tends to destabilize international politics, so conflict is likely to increase in the post-Covid world. For example, the ongoing economic competition between the US and China is likely to continue to intensify as the two great powers begin to engage in the “New Cold War”.

Covid-19 will reshape the world order; Source: yalibnan.com

The US has blamed China for the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and Trump has repeatedly called SARS-CoV-2 “the Chinese virus”. To neutralize the cause, China is actively researching and developing the Covid-19 vaccine. The crisis has enabled China to prove itself to the world. In the long run, this can shake the balance of power. However, neither China nor the US is in a position to emerge as a “victorious” party in a way that could dramatically alter the balance of world power in favor of either nation.

Vaccine race

Mass production of the Covid-19 vaccine is no less than a space order race or an arms race. Vaccine production Covid-19 is not only a matter of saving lives, an economic and commercial problem, but also a matter of saving the face of some world leaders. Russia, the US, the UK, Germany, India and China are the top competitors in the vaccine race.

Russian President Putin is eager to introduce the vaccine to the world. It would be a sign of prestige in international society and help Russia impose the new world order it contests with. Likewise, China has its own ambitions to lead the world. The redistribution of power in the post-Covid world will depend on the performance of states in containment of the virus.

World financial order

The World Bank estimates a 5.2% decline in the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both the US and China are eager to revive Covid-affected economies in one way over the other. Basically, the US is leading the world economy, accounting for a quarter of the world economy; 80% of world trade is in USD.

China aims to change this payment method in international trade. The country is creating competition with the US for global trade by building its own banks. The speed of economic recovery of these two economies will determine the post-Covid financial world order.

Dependence

Both the US and China need allies to compete in the “New Cold War”. The Covid-19 pandemic gave them the opportunity to become allies through medical assistance. The Covid-19 Global Access Facility (COVAX) plans to distribute a large portion of the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries.

The race against coronavirus is exciting due to a variety of causes; Source: reddit.com

In July 2020, China promised to lend Latin America and the Caribbean 1 billion USD. America is also interested in this practice because President Biden is a strong advocate of global institutionalism. COVAX could be a new kind of bailout. If so, the Third Period’s dependence on the First Period would probably increase.

Technology

As an agent with a latent function, Covid has helped drive innovation. Nations with better technology are likely to impose their World Order. During the Covid-19 crisis, there was an exponential growth in technology adoption. This implies that the military will have better strategic equipment than it did in the pre-Covid era. In modern international relations, military power is the core determinant of state power.

Health is an element of national strength

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, elements of state power were military or economic strength. Health has also been shown to be an indirect factor in national strength, the pandemic indicates. Countries with better health have a higher chance of control; Their economies have better prospects for recovery. As a result, “healthy” states have an advantage over others in implementing policies based on their strengths.

Climate Change

Due to the industrial sector restriction during the shutdown, the global economy collapsed. In the first phase, it was thought that the shutdown would be a blessing for climate change. However, to revive the economy, governments of both developed and developing countries have no choice but to reopen their industries. This means more carbon emissions.

Immigration and, as a result, globalization, is perceived as increasing in the post-Covid-19 world; Source: internationalbanker.com

Climate deals are likely to be postponed until the economy resumes operations. Falling oil prices due to the pandemic will make it easier for poorer countries to revive their industries. This is another stumbling block to the way a global economy is carbon-free. As such, the post-Covid world will have negative effects on the climate.

Threats to political rights

The pandemic proved to be unfortunate for the rising Right Wing. Populism, nationalism, and nationalism do not seem to work on right-wing leaders. The Covid-19 pandemic required performance and output rather than speeches and slogans. This is evident from the 2020 US presidential election, which has been widely criticized for being a populist leader. Handling pandemic is one of the main factors that cost him the price in the recent election. Likewise, in other parts of the world, people are asking for better governance, not letting power fall into the hands of the madman.

End of globalization?

Globalization has been severely affected by the pandemic. However, globalization slowed long before the pandemic hit, even before the election of the former US President that the anti-internationalist Trump won. Some scholars predict the end of globalization due to the pandemic; others believe that the pandemic shows how the world is interconnected. They see the potential for development of globalization and cooperation between countries, especially in relation to COVAX.

Jobs are an important part of globalization. Historical data shows that the crises tend to strengthen globalization. Globalization has also helped boost the declining economy. Unemployment has increased dramatically due to a ban in place to stop the spread of the virus. To fix the damage, people will tend to cross international borders. Immigration, as a result, globalization, is likely to increase in the post-Covid world.

The Covid-19 pandemic alone may not completely change the World Order, but the transitions brought about by the pandemic in the international system have the potential to determine the leader of the global political order. The post-Covid world order depends on how and at what speed the world comes out of a pandemic. If the US or China fails to resist vaccine nationalism – restricting the dosage of the Covid-19 vaccine for domestic use, it will be difficult to ally with other countries on their vision of the New World Order. ./.