In a recent interview granted to Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery hailed the significance of the call for national unity in COVID-19 prevention and control, sent by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to all Vietnamese compatriots, while underscoring France’s solidarity with Vietnam in the COVID-19 fight.
Warnery expressed his positive feelings towards Vietnam’s COVID-19 countermeasures, touching on the country’s 2020 success in minimising the number of infections and deaths from the pandemic thanks to its policies, such as closing the borders, and tracing and quarantining people having contracted the virus. The 5K message launched by health agencies has been seriously followed by the people, he added.
The ambassador emphasised that the Party chief’s appeal was made in the context of the pandemic posing numerous challenges to the medical forces in COVID-19 hotbeds such as Ho Chi Minh City. Highlighting the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 in ensuring long-term pandemic control, he said that Vietnam has recently focused on accessing vaccine supplies, particularly through vaccine diplomacy.
In addition, Vietnam is making efforts to implement a nationwide immunisation drive, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the southern localities. The French Embassy has also contributed to these efforts by organising vaccinations for the French community in Vietnam, as well as for Vietnamese staff working in the network of France’s public agencies.
With the spirit of solidarity and standing side by side to overcome the pandemic, France recently decided to support Vietnam’s inoculation efforts by donating more than 670,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the country through the COVAX Facility. France also received assistance from Vietnam during the first wave of COVID-19 last March, with the Southeast Asian nation’s donating face masks at a time when France needed it most.
“We once again thank the Vietnamese people for their generosity,” the ambassador emphasised.
In addition to donating vaccines and contributing to the COVAX mechanism, France’s support for Vietnam has manifested in many other forms. According to Warnery, through the French Development Agency (AFD), the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) and the Pasteur Institute, France has made efforts to support Vietnam’s public health system, as well as its scientific research activities aiming to curb the spread of the pandemic and reduce the impact on Vietnam’s socio-economy.
Regarding bilateral cooperation in the field of health, France has focused its efforts on training medical staff in Vietnam, through special health programmes sponsored by the French Embassy. Since 2020, a number of Vietnamese emergency care doctors have travelled to France and received training in the management of COVID-19 patients in French hospitals.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus once affirmed that global cooperation is the only way out of the pandemic crisis. In that spirit, Vietnam and France have been promoting mutual solidarity, working together towards the goal of repelling COVID-19.
