At the discussion session on socio -economics on May 31, in response to many opinions of National Assembly deputies as well as concerns of many voters and public opinion about the lack of vaccines and medicines in recent times, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan had discussions and explanations related to solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles regarding medicines and medical equipment.

Minister Dao Hong Lan pointed out that, in addition to the results achieved after the Covid-19 pandemic, the health sector has also revealed many difficulties, shortcomings, limitations and problems. "We have also recognized this problem... With the highest determination, the health sector has been, is and will focus on removing difficulties, obstacles and problems," said Minister Dao Hong Lan.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan: Regarding the imported 5-in-1 vaccine, in 2022, bidding procedures for procurement were carried out according to regulations, however, there were no bidders participating, so there was a shortage in the market.

What causes vaccine shortages?

Explaining the vaccine shortage, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that over the past years, the Ministry of Health has implemented an expanded vaccination program against 10 dangerous infectious diseases for children and women nationwide.

In the 2016 - 2020 period , the program is implemented according to Decision No. 1125/2017/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister approving the Health - Population Target Program for the 2016 - 2020 period.

The Ministry of Health is allocated central budget funds to carry out centralized procurement of vaccines for the expanded immunization program, anti-tuberculosis drugs, anti-HIV drugs ARV and Vitamin A, signing contracts with suppliers to distribute to localities for implementation, including 9 types of domestically produced vaccines. These vaccines have only one domestic manufacturer, each unit produces from 2 to 4 types of vaccines. These are units under the Ministry of Health, so the Ministry has implemented an ordering mechanism for all types of domestically produced vaccines in accordance with regulations.

For imported vaccines, the Ministry of Health has implemented a procurement mechanism through UNICEF in the form of selecting contractors in special cases according to Article 26 of the Law on Bidding or conducting centralized bidding for eligible vaccines with 3 or more registrations.

By the 2021 - 2022 period , because the Health - Population Target Program under Decision 1125 will only be implemented until the end of 2020; at the same time, according to the 2019 revised Law on Public Investment, there is no longer a Health - Population Target Program but only a number of activities are integrated into the expenditure content of the National Target Program for the 2021 - 2025 period and there is no content on vaccine purchase. The remaining contents are converted into regular tasks of ministries, central agencies and localities.

Therefore, the Minister of Health said that in order to have a suitable roadmap when converting the self-purchasing mechanism using the central budget transferred to localities for implementation, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 129/2020 on the allocation of the central budget in 2021. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health was assigned the central budget estimate to implement the procurement to supply vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program to ensure for the two years 2021 - 2022.

"In 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the implementation of some contents of this Program in many localities," Minister Dao Hong Lan explained.

The Ministry of Health has recently directed provinces and cities to strengthen regular vaccination in the last months of the year and review subjects for vaccination, supplementary vaccination, and catch-up vaccination for children and women nationwide.

In 2023, in order to remove difficulties and obstacles for localities, the Ministry of Health has requested the Ministry of Finance to develop the 2023 state budget estimate, in which it is proposed to allocate funds to implement tasks transferred from the Health - Population Target Program to regular tasks to purchase vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program, anti-tuberculosis drugs for people without health insurance cards, ARV drugs and vitamin A for children.

"However, the responsibility of the Health - Population Target Program has been transferred to the regular expenditure tasks of ministries, branches and localities, so according to the provisions of the Law on Public Investment and decentralization of the state budget, the Ministry of Health is not allowed to allocate funds to implement this task," Minister Dao Hong Lan analyzed.

5-in-1 vaccine shortage due to lack of contractors

However, according to Minister Dao Hong Lan, the Ministry of Health has recently reviewed the source of "pillow" vaccines from 2022 to present. For domestically produced vaccines, the expanded immunization program has provided enough vaccines for 2022 and "pillow" until July 2023.

Hepatitis B vaccine and tuberculosis vaccine will be used until August 2023. Japanese encephalitis vaccine, measles vaccine, rubella vaccine, etc. will be enough until the third and fourth quarters of 2023. Tetanus and polio vaccines will be used at all levels until the end of 2023.

Currently, the Expanded Immunization Program continues to deploy available vaccines at vaccination sites in communes and wards. For tuberculosis, ARV, and high-dose vitamin A vaccines, the Ministry of Health is actively working with sponsors and using available drug sources to ensure supply to localities. The Ministry of Health is implementing a nationwide vitamin A supplementation campaign for children, starting from International Children's Day (June 1, 2023), and localities are currently actively implementing this task.

Regarding imported 5-in-1 vaccines, due to the 2022 procurement bidding procedures being carried out according to regulations, however, there were no bidders participating, so there was a shortage in the market.

To ensure vaccines in 2023, the head of the Ministry of Health said that the Ministry has worked, listened and discussed with localities, submitted to the Government a report and draft Resolution on this content. Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has strongly directed the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to arrange funds and the central budget in 2023 for the Ministry of Health to implement procurement according to regulations as in previous years.

To carry out this task, the Ministry of Health has sent an official dispatch to 63 provinces and cities and has so far compiled enough needs of 63 provinces related to the request to purchase vaccines nationwide...

At the same time, to implement this content with a legal basis, the National Assembly has supervised the mobilization, management and use of resources for Covid-19 prevention and control; the implementation of policies and laws on grassroots health care and preventive medicine. The Government and the monitoring delegation also agreed to submit to the National Assembly the content of continuing to implement the expanded immunization program.

To facilitate the implementation process, the National Assembly is requested to add the content of allocating the central budget to continue implementing the expansion program in the context of the end of the Health - Population Target Program. The above content is included in the draft Resolution of this National Assembly session.

Basically met all the needs for medicine, no difficulties, no problems

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan also explained and clarified further solutions to ensure medicine, supplies and medical equipment.

According to Minister Dao Hong Lan, in recent times, many units and medical facilities have focused on implementing the Central Government's directives; so far, difficulties and obstacles have been basically resolved.

"For example, Bach Mai Hospital is a unit with about 7-8 thousand patients/day. Up to now, the hospital reported that it has basically met all the needs for medicine, without any difficulties or problems. However, in practice, there are still some places that are hesitant and avoid making purchases. We hope that all levels and localities will focus on directing," said the Minister of Health.

Regarding the issue of rare drugs, according to Minister Dao Hong Lan, recently, due to the world's supply as well as the remaining reserve mechanisms, implementing the Prime Minister's direction, the Ministry of Health is developing a regulation related to the reserve and guarantee of especially rare drugs applied nationwide and is expected to report to the Government in the third quarter of this year.  

GRASSLAND