This was the conclusion of the National Assembly (NA)’s morning working session on October 20 after NA deputies heard the head of the NA’s Committee of Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh presenting the verification document of the Government’s report on pandemic prevention and control.

The committee highly appreciated the Government, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, relevant ministries, localities and frontline forces in the fight against the pandemic.

According to the committee, the Government was evaluated to flexibly apply measures to prevent and control the pandemic by timely submitting to the NA’s Standing Committee for promulgation a number of contents different from those prescribed by law or in which the law had yet to provide.

Illustrative image (internet)

The Government also promptly issued more than 100 documents, including resolutions, directives and official dispatches, to serve urgent requirements in the fight against the pandemic with the purpose of ensuring people’s health and life first and foremost.

Resolution No 128/NQ-CP dated October 11, 2021, which provides temporary guidance on "Safe adaptation, flexibility and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic", was one of the examples.

The Government promptly tasked the health sector to co-ordinate with other ministries and sectors to implement many solutions to ensure enough vaccines for the people while supplies were very limited.

The vaccination programme against COVID-19 is considered the largest vaccination campaign ever in the country, while approximately 65 million doses of vaccine have been administrated so far, of which, 63.6 per cent of people over 18 years old received at least one dose of vaccine and 25.5 per cent of them have been fully vaccinated.

The Government had also mobilised all resources from the State budget as well as the private sector to serve pandemic prevention and control work.

Moreover, the Government ordered ministries and local authorities to ensure social security during the pandemic. As a result, some types of crimes and social evils such as theft, illegal racing and traffic accidents decreased significantly.

The Government also ordered the education sector to deploy online learning and education via television; organising the high school graduation exam and the opening ceremony of the new school year in accordance with the requirements of social distancing.

The Government also launched the programme “Internet and Computers for Students” to help poor and disadvantaged children learn online.

The Government publicly and transparently provided information on pandemic prevention and control as well as strengthened the application of information technology in the fight against the pandemic.

Recommendations

However, the NA’s Committee on Social Affairs also pointed out that the response to the fourth wave of the pandemic revealed some limitations of the health system, especially in grassroots and preventive medicine.

Additionally, the impact of the pandemic on the people’s physical and mental health was huge but had not been fully assessed, the committee said.

Some individuals were found to have taken advantage of their position and power to make profit in the vaccination against COVID-19; others were found taking advantage of vehicles with "green channel" identification codes to transport banned goods, including drugs, the committee added.

The implementation of online learning showed shortcomings, reducing the educational quality and resulting in some negative consequences for children, the committee said.

Therefore, the committee asked the Government to urgently review and amend regulations relating to pandemic prevention and control or submit the NA to consider amending the regulations to fit with the real circumstances.

The Government needed to quickly issue the Master Strategy on pandemic prevention and control as well as economic recovery; and the Action Plan to implement the strategy, the committee said.

It should take measures to strictly handle violations relating to pandemic prevention and control and promptly reward individuals and units with achievements in the work.

The Government had to prioritise investment capital for the health sector, strengthening the capacity of the health system, especially grassroots and preventive medicine, to adapt to the pandemic in the ‘new normal’.

The committee also told the Government to make adjustments to current policies to give more support and encouragement to frontline forces, who had to work very hard under high pressure during the pandemic.

It was necessary to rapidly issue guidelines for healthcare, rehabilitation and psychological support for people after they recovered from COVID-19.

The Government had to continue implementing the vaccine diplomacy strategy, promoting research and technology transfer of vaccine production in the country in order to proactively provide vaccines for domestic people.

It also needed to continue researching and issuing guidelines on vaccination for children of all ages so that the children could go back to school soon, the committee said./.