Vietnam was the ninth nation to announce a confirmed infection on January 24, 2020. The nation had recorded just 35 COVID-19 deaths prior to May 15, 2021, the death toll currently stands at over 10,000 and will likely head toward 20,000 by the end of September, assuming the situation doesn’t worsen.

Vietnam began its vaccination campaign on March 8, 2021 after not having suffered a COVID-19 fatality in over six months.

>When the virus first spread beyond China in early 2020, Vietnam acted fast and decisively, closing its borders to almost all travellers except returning citizens.

>It then quarantined and tested everyone who entered the country. It also conducted widespread contact-tracing and testing.

Starting with the AstraZeneca vaccine, Vietnam quickly approved Russia’s Sputnik V. More than two months into the vaccination campaign, Vietnam still reported no new COVID-19 fatalities. Then the situation began to change---slowly at first, and only recently looking to begin to peak at over 200,000 active cases.

U.S. vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and then Johnson & Johnson were approved on June 12, June 29, and July 15, 2021 respectively, with millions of doses shipped to Vietnam. By late July, Vietnam’s SARS-CoV-2 infection rate soared like never before.

A study published in The Lancet (Chau and Ngoc, 2021) on August 10, 2021 notes the association of the emergent variant with breakthrough cases involving “low-levels of vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies” among health care workers who may very well have precipitated the ongoing epidemic.

No one is saying what resulted in the surge of cases and deaths. No admissions causal correlation due to the vaccines.

Treatment since covid-19 outbreak:

The health ministry notes that while there has not been a definitive drug to treat COVID-19, a variety of antiviral drugs – including the domestically available lopinavir, ritonavir and interferon – might deliver some results as many patients were cleared of the virus within a week.

The US-made and not readily accessible remdesivir, along with Favipiravir, commonly used in Russia, were also noted as "promising" by the guidelines.

Note: Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine are no longer used as their effectiveness in dealing with the disease were not ascertained, but the antibody-rich plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is now considered a solid substitute for antiviral drugs.

In my mind there's a connection with the initiation of the vaccination campaign and their current cases and deaths.