Minister Huynh Thanh Dat visited the SARS-CoV-2 testing laboratory.

Joining the delegation, there were Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of economic - technical branches; Mr. Le Minh Khanh, Deputy Director, Department of Southern Affairs; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Quang Vinh, Head of  Science and Technology Committee, Ho Chi Minh City National University.

The predecessor of the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute today is the Saigon Pasteur Institute, founded in 1891 by the French Doctor Albert Calmette, an excellent student of the French scientist Louis Pasteur. 130 years since its establishment, especially after more than 40 years of construction and development since the date of complete reunification in 1975, the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute has made breakthrough developments, always strive to approach and apply advanced technical and technological achievements of the world and the region in the field of medical microbiology research, biotechnology, effectively supporting project activities to predict epidemics and develop appropriate disease surveillance models, strengthen the initiative in surveillance and prevention of epidemics and diseases, and limit the spread of pathogens in the community.

The Institute has actively cooperated with other institutes and schools and enlisted the support of prestigious health organizations in the world, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States (USCDC) through cooperation programs and projects to train, transfer new techniques and invest in modern equipment for laboratories, constantly improve professional capacity for science staffs.

The Institute's research team has nearly 200 staff members, of which key staffs are intensively trained in epidemiology, microbiology, immunology at home and abroad such as Japan, the United States, France, Italy, the UK, Australia. The Institute has one room meeting biosafety level 3 (mobile and under construction with the support of JICA) and 15 rooms meeting biosafety level II; ISO 15189:2012 management process standard, recognized by the Ministry of Health as a national reference laboratory (HIV/AIDS laboratory), WHO standard reference laboratory (HIV drug resistance test) . Network infrastructure is being invested to meet operational and management needs. Research cooperation in the world Pasteur Institute network, WHO/US.CDC, with universities and research organizations at home and abroad (USA with PEPFAR (HIV)/Global Health Security (GHSA) project ), National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan, National University of Singapore, Colorado, Monash, UNSW (Australia); IDDS Organization, PATH; Sanofi Pasteur Company, GSK, MSD, Medigen (Taiwan), University and etc.

At the meeting, Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology for economic - technical sectors briefly reported on the objectives, contents and solutions of the national key S&T program "Research and production of vaccines". please use it for human use until 2030” has just been approved by the Prime Minister on October 1, 2021 in Decision No. 1657/QD-TTg. Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung emphasized the specific mechanisms when participating in the Program and affirmed that this is a research program associated with production, in which the goal by 2030 must be to produce at least 5 types of licensed vaccines. The participants highly appreciated the timeliness, human meaning and difficulties and affirmed to actively participate in the Program's activities.

After listening to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute, the opinions of the members of the delegation, Minister Huynh Thanh Dat praised and highly appreciated the achievements of the Institute's S&T activities in recent years with contributions greatly for the prevention and control of the epidemic and the Institute's orientations in the coming period. The Minister ordered the Institute to continue researching and building a forecasting model for the Covid-19 epidemic to come up with scientific solutions to implement the policy of safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of the Covid-19 epidemic; support the Institute's proposals on projects to strengthen research capacity for laboratories, especially biosafety level 3 laboratories, research and evaluation of the effectiveness of vaccines against Covid-19, research on association post-Covid-19 symptoms, research on dengue hemorrhagic fever vaccines, hand, foot and mouth disease vaccines, and basic research tasks; support the research cooperation between the Institute and the  Ho Chi Minh City National University.

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