Dr. Kidong Park, WHO Representative in Vietnam (Photo: VNA) This includes a focus on protecting the vulnerable andavoiding the ‘red line’, where health services get overwhelmed, Park told theVietnam News Agency (VNA).
“Although we may not eradicatethe virus and it would be difficult to predict future scenarios of virus mutation,we now know how to save lives and the adverse social and economic impacts,”according to the WHO Representative.
“As we transition safe andflexible adaptation to COVID-19, it is critical that we continue our strongpublic health response through vaccination together with calibrated publichealth and social measures,” he continued.
Park said WHO commends the Vietnamese Government for the hard work andrelentless efforts to suppress the COVID-19 outbreaks with the whole-of-societyapproach.
He highlighted that Vietnam’spandemic response strategy is anchored on a very strong political commitmentfrom the highest level of the Government. It has a robust surveillance andpublic health emergency response system; dedicated and highly skilled healthcare workers both at prevention and clinical management side, and theVietnamese people cooperated with the implementation of the public and socialmeasures.
WHO also expresses its admiration for the persistent commitment fromlocalities through the excellent work of community COVID-19 teams; and Vietnamesepeople, for doing their share in fighting the virus with personal protectionthrough consistent practice of 5K and getting themselves vaccinated when it wastheir turn.
Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Sincethe beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has been providing technical,operational and logistical support to the response.
“Wewill continue to do so and keep providing the most updated scientific evidenceto support the Government in their response decision-making processes,” hepledged.
WHO’ssupport focuses on strengthening capacity across technical areas includingsurveillance, risk assessment, outbreak investigation and response,communication, laboratory (including provision of test kits and supplies).
WHOcontinues supporting the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to review and update thetechnical guidelines based on the latest evidence, such as diagnosis andtreatment for COVID-19, infection prevention and control of COVID-19, how toensure safety of health workers, and ICU care of COVID-19, among others.
“Wehave also deployed medical equipment and supplies, especially for hotspotprovinces,” he said.
As aco-lead of the COVAX Facility, WHO, at the global level, provides technicalrecommendation on vaccination by convening the Strategic Advisory Group ofExpert on Immunization (SAGE); assesses efficacy, safety and quality of vaccineproducts through WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure; and advocates forequitable access to vaccine based on science-based prioritization.
WHO recommends for Vietnam to prepare for Omicron,Park said, noting that the country should work to enhance surveillanceincluding gene sequencing of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, achieve highCOVID-19 vaccination coverage in all eligible populations in combination with5K measures, continue to increase public health and medical capacities withwell-coordinated patient referral system from primary care to intensive careservices to manage an increase in cases, and continue to provide correct informationin timely and transparent manner to the public so people make informeddecisions to protect themselves and their family./.
VNA
