Vietnam has additional 5-in-1 vaccine aid, enough to vaccinate for more than 2 months

Faced with a shortage of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program, the Ministry of Health has mobilized support from international organizations to provide the 5-in-1 vaccine.

Through the United Nations Children's Fund, the Australian Government has provided Vietnam with 490,600 doses of the 5-in-1 vaccine to provide free vaccinations to children. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Vietnam tomorrow.

Ms. Duong Thi Hong - Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology - said that after receiving the vaccine, the unit will base on the proposed needs and implementation practices of 63 provinces and cities to allocate.

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has developed a plan to allocate vaccines according to demand and instructed localities to deploy them in order of priority.

"Accordingly, priority will be given to allocating the 5-in-1 vaccine to children who have not received the first dose. Priority will be given to children in the youngest age group from 2 months old, followed by children who are older. Next, the second and third doses will be given to children who have not received enough doses, including children over 12 months old.

With the number of vaccines supported by the Australian Government, localities will deploy according to this priority order. In addition, the institute will also prioritize the vaccine supply rate for mountainous and disadvantaged areas to ensure fairness in vaccine access for children," said Ms. Hong.

Mr. Hoang Minh Duc - Deputy Director in charge of management and operation of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) - said that immediately after receiving the vaccine, the Institute for Testing Vaccines and Medical Biologicals must urgently conduct the testing within about 1 week.

"It is expected that in the last week of December 2023, vaccinations will be given to children according to the right subjects. Health departments need to direct relevant units to arrange to immediately receive vaccines and organize safe and effective vaccinations; manage subjects, carefully review to provide additional vaccinations to children in the next rounds," said Mr. Duc.

Currently, on average, the capacity of expanded vaccination sites can be about 200,000 doses per month, so with the number of vaccines funded by the Australian Government, it is expected to be vaccinated within 2.5 months.

Still biddingvaccine

Since the beginning of 2023, vaccines used in expanded immunization have been continuously interrupted, resulting in a shortage of vaccines for children.

After the central budget was allocated to continue purchasing vaccines, after nearly 5 months the purchase has not been completed.

Recently, the Ministry of Health said it is purchasing vaccines according to regulations, and expects to have vaccines for children in December.

To address the urgent situation, the Ministry of Health is seeking aid and vaccine funding from international and domestic organizations. Previously, in July 2023, Vietnam also received 258,000 doses of vaccine.