Update on EuroCham’s Work during COVID-19

Vietnam is now more than two months into the fourth wave of COVID-19. Ever since the start of this latest outbreak, EuroCham has been working hard on behalf of our members, their business interests, and their families.

Since the launch of our mass vaccination campaign in May we have met with the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, the Vice-Minister of Health, and the Central Commission for External Relations as well as hosted a webinar with EuroCham leaders and FV Hospital who provided updates on the logistics and distribution of vaccines, attracting over 400 attendees. In all these meetings, and in our correspondence with the government, we have been pushing the following five priorities:

1.   Prioritizing vaccinations: In our meeting last week with the Vice-Minister of Health, EuroCham pushed for a wider range of people to be included in the list of those prioritized for Vietnam’s first wave of vaccinations. We argued that those working in pharmacies, for medical device companies, and others who come into regular contact with potentially infected people or healthcare workers and facilities should also be prioritised; along with those in ports who are essential to economic growth.

2.   Easing quarantine: EuroCham continues to push for reduced quarantine requirements for European business leaders, investors, experts – and their families – who have been vaccinated in their home countries. Reducing the length of quarantine for our vaccinated members remains one of EuroCham’s top priorities. And we will continue to advocate for more proportionate measures – such as a one-week quarantine – to mitigate the damage of travel restrictions on our member companies.

3.   Vaccine procurement: Procuring vaccines is mainly a government-to-government affair. However, EuroCham is doing all it can to support the government to source vaccinations. We have spoken with all western vaccine suppliers, discussed possible vaccination sites with the local authorities in HCMC, and also made enquiries about the possible cost of doses. We also convened a meeting with our Member State embassies to ask them to help push Vietnam to the top of the list when our governments in Europe are donating vaccines abroad. And we encourage all our members to mobilize the support of their headquarters in Europe so that we have a united voice on this. We can be proud that the European Union and our Member States are big contributors to the international COVAX program. But there is more that could be done.

4.   Vietnam’s vaccination fund: EuroCham has emphasized that European companies need reassurance that this fund will be transparent. Our members have given generous and substantial support to Vietnam through this pandemic and will continue to do so. But we want to know where these donations will go and what the financial contributions will be used for.

5.   Distribution and logistics: We have offered the support of our member companies – not just in healthcare but also in transportation and logistics – to help Vietnam implement a mass vaccination program. This will be more successful if it is a true partnership between the government and the private sector and we have highlighted the willingness of our members to help the government deliver this.

These proposals have all received warm feedback in our recent meetings with the authorities. We expect to receive further positive news soon on these matters and – as ever – we will continue to keep our members updated.

This article is just a snapshot of the work we are doing to support European business during these difficult times. We will continue this work in the coming weeks, and keep members informed about how our campaign is progressing to accelerate vaccinations, ease quarantine requirements, and get back to business as usual.

In the meantime, please continue to join our webinars and follow our social media pages for the latest news on COVID-19 and EuroCham’s activities on this important topic. You should also have received a questionnaire this week regarding the level of support for companies covering the cost of vaccinating their own workers. Please help us to complete this questionnaire as it will support our ongoing work on behalf of our members.