Representatives of the U.S. side work with the Ministry of Health. The United States has agreed to provide Vietnam with an aid package worth US$4.5 million to fight the pandemic - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The United States has agreed to provide Vietnam with an aid package worth US$4.5 million to intensify the latter’s Covid-19 vaccination program and improve the capacity of its healthcare system.

A representative of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged the relief aid at a recent meeting with Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, the Ministry of Health said on August 4.

In early September, 77 deep freezers donated by the United States for vaccine storage are set to arrive in Vietnam. The U.S. Secretary of Defense had announced this donation during his visit to Vietnam in late July.

Due to the current trajectory of the pandemic, which is piling pressure on the country’s healthcare system, the Ministry of Health is setting up several intensive care units in HCMC and some southern provinces.

The ministry also proposed the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID provide Vietnam with ventilators, oxygen tanks and medical equipment for Covid-19 treatment to minimize the death rate.

Minister Long also expected the U.S. government to continue supporting Vietnam in the anti-virus fight and giving the country priority in the access to vaccines, the local media reported.

To fight the pandemic effectively, Vietnam is trying to gain access to more doses of Covid-19 vaccines, said Minister Long, adding that in the fourth quarter of the year, some 47 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive in Vietnam.