Proposed a 7-day quarantine from people entering with a 'vaccine passport'

According to Mr. Dang Quang Tuan, currently the director of the Preventive Medicine Department, he suggested that those entering with a vaccine passport will be isolated for 7 days, during which time the test is 2 times, if negative, it will be isolated at home 7 days.

Accordingly, people entering Vietnam with vaccine passports will be tested for the first time on the first day after entry; the second on the 6th day of quarantine. A third test was done on the last day of the home or accommodation quarantine chain. If all three tests negative, the person on entry is terminated on quarantine.

Estimated total quarantine period of vaccine passport holders is 14 days: 7 days gather, 7 days at residence. Currently, all people entering Vietnam are concentrated in isolation for 14 days.

Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Nhung, Director of the Central Lung Hospital, said that it is necessary to reduce the quarantine period from those who have a valid vaccination certificate. Even, he suggested to those who hold vaccine passports, after entering, if the PCR test is negative, there is no need to quarantine.

According to Mr. Nhung, in the immediate future, the state should do a pilot. "The reduction of the quarantine period or even the absence of quarantine can be piloted by welcoming guests to Nha Trang, if after a period of good results, ensuring no spread of disease to the community will expand to other places, "said Mr. Nhung.

Foreign visitors complete immigration procedures at Noi Bai airport, Hanoi, before Vietnam stops international commercial flights, March 2020. Photo: Ba Do

Mr. Nhung said that Vietnam still has to set the highest goal of disease safety. This goal is evaluated on a scientific and practical basis. Do authorities have to develop safety protocols, such as which vaccines are approved? How long is injection time on arrival? injections with correct instructions? What is the potency of the Vaccine? "In particular, there must be a procedure to detect fake vaccine passports".

In addition, Vietnam needs to require all inbound medical declarations, install Bluzone applications to monitor and trace when needed; When the vaccine passport holder leaves, continue PCR testing again.

As for international tourists, Mr. Nhung said that after their entry, the authorities need to build a number of technical barriers to ensure that they do not go outside the limit of the specified locations. Local military, police, and medical forces must be mobilized to control open locations. "Vietnam is controlling well the epidemic, so welcoming international tourists carefully, with a roadmap that will bring great benefits to the country," he said.

With Vietnamese people stranded overseas (already vaccinated) returning, Mr. Nhung said he could still apply 7-day isolation to ensure safety. "If it is possible to rescue Vietnamese trapped abroad and return safely, this is a humane and economic job," said Mr. Nhung.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Senior Advisor of the Vietnam Public Health Event Center (Ministry of Health), said the vaccine passport is essentially a certificate of vaccination with the number of Covid-19 vaccinations. Thereby helping people to prevent epidemics, remove difficulties in travel and economic business. Currently many countries around the world also raised the issue of "vaccine passport" but not yet implemented.

"Israel has a high immunization rate but also only allows people to travel within their country. Currently Vietnam still has no immunity to the community, because the vaccination rate is not high, so if it falls into a few cases of entry, it will be affected. If the disease comes in, the risk of outbreaks coming back is inevitable, "said Associate Professor Tran Dac Phu.

Therefore, Mr. Phu said that it is necessary to calculate harmoniously and firmly to prevent Covid-19 disease from spreading in the community and economic development. There is a very important issue to pay attention to, that is how the vaccine protects like? Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the number of people vaccinated is still too small.

Therefore, he proposed, in the immediate future, Vietnam could apply the model of "low contact tourism". This means that people with vaccine passports can enter, be tested for Covid-19, must be isolated for a reasonable number of days, to places where there is no traffic and crowded. All these activities must be closely and uniformly supervised between the Ministry of Health and the concerned ministries and branches.

"Vietnam needs a strategy to recognize vaccine passports with countries in the form of a bilateral or a region. Immediately pilot the application of passports with a few countries with high vaccination rates, with vaccines reaching high immunological efficiency, approved by a reputable medical organization ", Mr. Phu stated.

At the meeting on April 9, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention agreed that three groups of immigrants are expected to apply vaccine passports, including: Vietnamese trapped abroad, who have been vaccinated with Covid-19. ; Foreigners entering Vietnam for investment and business purposes; international tourists.

It is expected that after the disease has been controlled well and vaccinated to achieve community immunity, Vietnam will reopen the opening of international visitors.