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| Central budget to be allocated to buy vaccines for expanded immunisation programme |
The Government assigned the ministry to guide localities in planning and determining their vaccine needs, and organise the purchase in accordance with regulations, ensuring thrift, efficiency, promptness and safety.
The Vietnamese expanded programme on immunisation (EPI), launched in 1981, is providing vaccines to 12 preventable diseases, namely Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hib, Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera (in high-risk areas), and Typhoid (in high-risk areas).
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in Vietnam, it is estimated that the EPI has saved 42,000 lives and prevented more than 6.7 million childhood diseases like polio, tetanus, diphtheria, measles and pertussis with high vaccine coverage. Official 2017 data indicated a coverage of 97% for Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), 97% for measles-containing vaccine (MCV) first dose, and 93% for MCV second dose.
Dr. Dang Thanh Huyen, deputy head of the EPI Office under the Ministry of Health, said on July 10 that many new kinds of vaccines will be included in the programme in the coming time.
According to the roadmap, the vaccine against Rotavirus will be provided in a number of localities in 2023 and the whole nation in 2024.
Meanwhile, vaccines against pneumococcal disease, cervical cancer, and seasonal flu will be introduced from 2025, 2026 and 2030, respectively, said Huyen./.
