The whole country is lacking vaccines for expanded immunization, Ho Chi Minh City is about to run out

The supply of expanded immunization vaccines has been interrupted since early 2023, when there was a change in the vaccine purchasing mechanism. This has directly affected the health of young children when it is time to get vaccinated.

Ho Chi Minh City must wait for the vaccine to arrive.

For many months now, vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program in Ho Chi Minh City and many other localities have been running out and not being supplied in time.

Many people are interested in going to the health station to ask about vaccinations for their children, but the station's staff can only answer that there is currently a shortage of this or that vaccine and advise them to wait or take their children to get vaccinated by a service.

Speaking to reporters on the afternoon of November 22, Mr. Nguyen Trung Hoa - Director of Go Vap District Medical Center (Ho Chi Minh City) - said that along with the general situation of the whole city, medical stations in the district have run out of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program.

At the Binh Hung Hoa Ward Health Station (Binh Tan District), a representative of the station said that the situation of vaccine exhaustion in the Expanded Immunization Program has been happening for several months now, and now there is only Japanese encephalitis vaccine left.

Many parents took their children to the station and then had to return home. There were many parents who patiently waited for their children to be vaccinated for free because their financial situation was limited and they could not afford to take their children to get vaccinated by a service provider.

Similarly, the head of a health station in a ward in Binh Thanh District said that the station only has Japanese encephalitis vaccine left. And with the current situation, the station will probably run out of this vaccine in a few days to vaccinate people.

Hanoi doesn't have many vaccines left.

In Hanoi, many medical stations also announced that some types of vaccines were no longer available, so children who wanted to be vaccinated were forced to wait or choose to get vaccinated by a service provider.

Previously, speaking to Tuoi Tre, a representative of the Hanoi Department of Health also informed that some types of vaccines were interrupted. Specifically, DPT vaccines will run out from April 2023, single measles vaccines will run out from September 2023, and hepatitis B will run out from October 2023. For the 5-in-1 vaccine, there is enough vaccination until December.

Vaccine service is abundant again

On November 22, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, as of November 21, Ho Chi Minh City no longer had diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT), IPV (injectable polio), hepatitis B, SII (DPT-VGB-Hib) vaccines. There were very few other vaccines left, only enough for one or a few days. These were measles, oral polio, tuberculosis, measles-rubella (MR), tetanus, and Japanese encephalitis vaccines.

Paradoxically, at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City and many private vaccination centers in the area on the same afternoon, there were almost all types of vaccines available for children.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that in the face of the shortage of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program, the Department of Health has advised the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to issue a written report and request the Ministry of Health to urgently allocate vaccines to meet the vaccination needs of the people.

Previously, on October 27, 2023, the Ministry of Health issued an official dispatch in response to the proposal of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. This official dispatch stated: "In the past time, the Ministry of Health has focused on resolving difficulties and problems and is purchasing vaccines. After the procurement results are available, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will distribute them to Ho Chi Minh City and localities as soon as possible."

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that domestically produced vaccines under the Expanded Immunization Program are expected to be available again at the end of November 2023 at the earliest, while imported vaccines will have to wait until the end of December 2023.

The Ministry of Health is responsible if there is a shortage of vaccines for expanded immunization.

The Government Office has issued Notice No. 183/TB-VPCP on the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on bidding for drug procurement at the Ministry of Health and localities, including vaccines in the expanded immunization program.

The Ministry of Health needs to review and compile statistics on the needs of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities, balancing them with aid sources for national bidding or ordering in accordance with the instructions in Notice No. 26/TB-VPCP. The Ministry of Health is responsible to the Government and the Prime Minister in case of shortages of these drugs and vaccines.