Vietnam: Marshalling state and non-state actors

Nguyen, C.; Phan, T.

This chapter examines Vietnam’s campaign against Covid-19. When the coronavirus outbreak emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the government of Vietnam considered it a highly contagious disease and immediately implemented all necessary measures to protect people from the emerging pandemic, even if these strict measures resulted in massive economic losses. The chapter then introduces the regulatory framework which enabled the government and other non-state actors in Vietnam to fight the epidemic effectively. It also discusses how Vietnam contained the spread of the virus in practice from the perspectives of health and medical policy, information and technology, economic policy, and international cooperation. Ultimately, Vietnam’s unique response derives from four factors: (1) the policy that prioritized public health over economic considerations;(2) Vietnam’s having been well prepared for dealing with contagious diseases since the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the government immediately introducing strict measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 when it emerged in China;(3) the legal framework specifying the roles of the central and local governments to avoid any bureaucratic delays in making decisions in an epidemic;and (4) the government flexibly combining coercive means with deliberate action, public education, effective governance, and effective coordination with the community and the private sector. © the several contributors 2021.