Talking to the media at a regular press conference held online on June 24, Hang said that with a goal towards herd immunity to make life return to normal, Vietnam has inoculated more than 600 members of foreign diplomatic missions, and United Nations agencies in the country and their family members.
The Foreign Ministry is also coordinating with the Health Ministry to arrange vaccination for more than 50 reporters and press assistants at foreign press agencies' offices in Vietnam early next week, she added.
In the humanitarian spirit, the Vietnamese Government always cares for and supports foreigners living, studying and working in Vietnam so they can live normally and safely, and receive medical care and intensive treatment when necessary.
Foreign citizens will be vaccinated when Vietnam receives more vaccines, with the aim to create herd immunity to drive back the pandemic, Hang affirmed.
Commenting on the New York Times' article on June 2 saying that Vietnam’s past achievement in the COVID-19 fight is a “luck”, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that this is a completely subjective opinion.
According to her, since the COVID-19 outbreak, with the goals of ensuring public health, preventing the spread of the disease and maintaining socio-economic development, Vietnam has made strategic decisions, along with drastic and creative directions from the central to local levels.
The government has implemented many timely and drastic measures, including those applied for the first time in pandemic prevention and control, such as preventing the spread of the coronavirus from outside by restricting entry, quarantining all people entering the country, zoning out and stamping out outbreaks, tracing possible contacts with confirmed patients, and closely monitoring quarantined people.
To proactively control the pandemic during the new normal, the Ministry of Health issued the 5K message of khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering), and khai bao y te (health declaration), and most recently the 5K plus vaccine message, to call on every Vietnamese citizen to follow in order to live safely with the pandemic.
With the determination, efforts and the engagement of the entire political system and people, especially the frontline forces, Vietnam has overcome three waves of the pandemic.
“Using the experience and building on success in dealing with previous resurgence of outbreaks, along with the increasing understanding and capacity of medical workers and testing capacity, Vietnam has step by step controlled the complicated fourth wave of outbreaks, and ensured the life as well as production activities of its people,” Hang stressed.
Vietnam is actively implementing the vaccination campaign, and preparing the best conditions for planning and deploying the campaign nationwide in an appropriate, scientific and effective roadmap towards herd immunity.
“The results in Vietnam’s pandemic prevention and control over the past times have been acknowledged and appreciated by the international community, the World Health Organisation and many countries. Public opinion and the press, including the US press, have recognized Vietnam as a role model in the pandemic prevention and control,” the spokesman emphasized.
Vietnam treasures the comprehensive cooperative partnership with the European Union (EU) and stays ready to discuss and cooperate with the EU on human rights issue in a straightforward, open and respectful manner to increase mutual understanding via the annual human right dialogue mechanism and other bilateral exchange frameworks, said Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.
Asked to comment about the EU Annual Report on Human Rights 2020, Hang took note of the report’s assessment about Vietnam’s achievements in protecting labour right, preventing child labour and promoting gender equality.
She, however, expressed regret that there remains several biased contents based on information that failed to reflect realities in Vietnam.
The spokesperson stressed that the Vietnamese State always pays attention to protecting and promoting basic human rights, which have been stipulated in the Constitution 2013 and relevant legal documents and been respected and enforced in reality, as demonstrated in the country's socio-economic and health care achievements, especially in the fight against COVID-19.
Such efforts and successes have been acknowledged by the international community via many bilateral and multilateral frameworks, including the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council, she said.
"Freedom of speech, press and information in Vietnam has been clearly reflected in the development of the press in both types and contents. In fact, over 70 percent of the Vietnamese population are using the internet, domestic and foreign social networks. In Vietnam, no one has been arrested or brought to court merely for expressing opinions or protecting human rights," the spokesperson affirmed.
Hang added that like other countries worldwide, Vietnam resolutely fights acts that take advantage of the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the law, the State interests and the legitimate rights and interests of individuals and organisations. She affirmed that the process of investigation, trial and detention is conducted in line with the law while rights of the arrestees are ensured.
