Covid-19: Vietnam mulls 'vaccine passport', may resume international flights

Overseas trips resumed in the second half of 2020 but were halted again in December after the southeast Asian nation saw an outbreak following three months of having no local transmission.

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered ministries to study the use of a “vaccine passport” as the country is in talks to buy more shots against the coronavirus.

A woman receives a vaccine as Vietnam starts its official rollout of AstraZeneca's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine for health workers, at Hai Duong Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hai Duong province, Vietnam, March 8, 2021. (REUTERS)

Government agencies were asked by the premier to study a gradual reopening of international flights, according to a post on a state website. The statement didn’t provide details on the vaccine passport.

Overseas trips resumed in the second half of 2020 but were halted again in December after the southeast Asian nation saw an outbreak following three months of having no local transmission.

Vietnam, which has started its inoculation program with AstraZeneca Plc., is in talks with other vaccines producers including Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson, the government said. The nation has among the mildest outbreak in the region with a total of 2,560 infections and 35 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the health department.