Ministry of Health clarifies reflection on lack of vaccination vaccines in the expanded program

The Ministry of Health has just issued a report clarifying the reflection on the lack of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program in the report on the results of monitoring the settlement and response to voters' petitions sent to the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The Ministry of Health has just issued a report clarifying the reflection on the lack of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program in the report on the results of monitoring the settlement and response to voters' petitions sent to the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Vaccine shortages affect vaccination rates

Report No. 1009/BC-UBTVQH15 dated October 16, 2024 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the results of monitoring the settlement and response to voters' petitions sent to the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly stated that although the Government had taken measures to remove difficulties for the Ministry of Health regarding vaccination by issuing Decree No. 13 amending Decree No. 104 on expanded vaccination funding from mid-February 2024, it was not until June 2024 that the Ministry of Health issued the 2024 expanded vaccination plan, which was too slow for localities to implement.

According to the report of the Ministry of Health sent to the Petition Committee, the Ministry has recently had many solutions to solve the vaccine shortage, but in reality, there are still many difficulties.

According to the report, in many localities, the shortage of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program has occurred since the end of 2022, and this situation is still occurring as of September 2024.

The National Assembly Standing Committee has recommended that the Ministry of Health take drastic measures to ensure adequate and timely supply of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program; assess the impact when children are not vaccinated on schedule or have not received enough doses, especially for vaccines that are indicated for children immediately after birth, and propose solutions to overcome the situation.

At the same time, consider the responsibility for the recent vaccine shortage; assess the measles, diphtheria and whooping cough epidemics in some provinces and cities and their relationship to the vaccine shortage in localities; and forecast the development of the epidemic situation in the coming time.

In response to the opinion of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) recently said that there was an objective reason due to the general situation of the world after the pandemic, due to the cyclical outbreak of the epidemic.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2018 was one of the years with the highest number of measles cases in a decade, with nearly 10 million infections and more than 140,000 deaths worldwide.

In Vietnam, in 2014 and 2019, the number of cases of suspected measles rash fever increased, although the vaccination rate of measles vaccines reached the following levels: in 2014, measles dose 1: 97.4%, measles dose 2: 93.8%; in 2019, measles dose 1: 95.4%, measles dose 2: 92.4%.

In 2023-2024, the World Health Organization warned that measles had re-emerged, now re-emerging in 103 countries after 5 years.

Regarding funding for expanded immunization, according to the Ministry, there are still difficulties. Specifically, in the 2016 - 2020 period: Funding for purchasing vaccines in the expanded immunization program is allocated in the Health - Population Target Program for the 2016 - 2020 period according to Decision No. 1125/QD-TTg dated July 31, 2017 of the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Health is allocated funding to purchase vaccines and allocate them to localities. In the 2021 - 2022 period: The Health - Population Target Program has ended.

According to Resolution No. 129/2020/QH14 of the National Assembly on central budget allocation in 2021, the central budget continues to allocate funds for the Ministry of Health to purchase expanded immunization vaccines in 2021 - 2022, similar to the period 2016 - 2020. Thus, in the period before 2023, the Ministry of Health is assigned funds to purchase vaccines and allocate them to localities.

From 2023, according to the provisions of the State Budget Law, localities will purchase vaccines from their local budgets. However, during the implementation process, localities have encountered difficulties in arranging, approving funding, bidding, approving prices as well as implementation experience...

Therefore, many localities have proposed that the Ministry of Health continue to act as the focal point for purchasing vaccines and distributing them to localities. At the same time, according to the results of the National Assembly's thematic supervision on 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 has recorded the recommendations of localities.

Vaccine supply efforts

The annual expanded immunization plan is a synthesis of local demand registrations. Regarding the synthesis of vaccine demand in 2024, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has instructed provinces and cities to review and determine vaccine demand in expanded immunization for the last 6 months of 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025 as early as December 2023.

In 2024, the Ministry of Health has not allocated funding for expanded immunization activities from the beginning of the year as in the 2016-2022 period. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has sent a document to the Ministry of Finance proposing funding needs to implement expanded immunization activities in 2024.

In parallel with sending the Ministry of Finance a report to the Government for approval of funding for vaccine purchases for expanded immunization in 2024, the Ministry of Health signed Decision No. 1596/QD-BYT dated June 10, 2024 on promulgating the 2024 expanded immunization plan, including vaccine needs for the last 6 months of 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025. The promulgation of the 2024 expanded immunization plan in early June 2024 and during the period awaiting funding approval is timely.

In the process of implementing the procedures and processes for vaccine procurement, to ensure vaccine supply for the Expanded Immunization Program and epidemic vaccination, the Ministry of Health has proactively requested WHO, UNICEF, the Australian Government, and aid organizations to support the combined vaccine Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib (DPT-VGB-Hib) and Measles-Rubella vaccine in 2023-2024.

At the same time, while waiting for approval of the 2024 budget, the Ministry of Health has directed relevant units to purchase vaccines that need to be immediately supplied to the Expanded Immunization Program, including tetanus vaccine and hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

However, according to the Ministry of Health, there are still some difficulties in the vaccine procurement process, such as the current vaccine procurement process still has many procedures that take time to implement (estimated at about 2-3 months).

Vaccine procurement processes include allocating state budget estimates; approving ordering plans; developing price plans; price appraisal and approval (2 months).

The process of evaluating and approving vaccine prices goes through many steps, requiring coordination between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and production units, which can lead to delays in issuing specific prices, affecting procurement progress.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/bo-y-te-lam-ro-phan-anh-thieu-vac-xin-tiem-chung-trong-chuong-trinh-mo-rong-d229312.html