These are 185,700 doses of DTP-VGB-Hib vaccine urgently supported to the Ministry of Health to overcome the situation of reduced vaccination rate and shortage of 5-in-1 vaccine.

The 5-in-1 vaccine protects children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). Although many vaccines are currently produced domestically, the DTP-HBV-Hib vaccine, which provides protection against five diseases in one safe and convenient injection, must be purchased overseas from approved suppliers.

Like every other country in the world , routine immunization services in Vietnam have been disrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in approximately 114,000 children under the age of 1 year missing out on any doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines in 2022 – the vaccines used as an indicator of global immunization coverage.

The batch of 5-in-1 vaccine supported by WHO and UNICEF arrived in Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Huong

In addition, due to recent shortages of the pentavalent vaccine, an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese children born in early 2023 will not have received this essential vaccine. Unvaccinated children are at higher risk of death and contracting vaccine-preventable diseases such as diphtheria. The large number of unvaccinated children could lead to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, threatening the progress Vietnam has made in reducing child mortality over the past few decades.

“Every year, immunization saves the lives of millions of children around the world. We must overcome barriers to immunization, otherwise children everywhere will continue to be at risk of illness or death from preventable diseases. UNICEF and WHO are proud to support efforts to ensure that these children across Viet Nam can receive urgent catch-up vaccinations, and to help improve and restore immunization services to pre-pandemic levels,” said Ms. Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in Viet Nam.

WHO Representative in Viet Nam, Dr Angela Pratt, also said: “WHO is delighted to join hands with UNICEF to support the Ministry of Health to help Vietnamese children catch up with the important routine immunization schedule. We are proud that these 5-in-1 vaccines will be used to protect children in the most remote and hard-to-reach communities in Viet Nam.”

“We need to do everything possible to ensure that every child who has missed a routine vaccination since the start of the pandemic is caught up. This requires catch-up immunization campaigns as well as efforts to strengthen the system as a whole. WHO will continue to work with UNICEF and other partners to support the Government of Viet Nam to ensure that every child, in every part of the country, is fully vaccinated, now and in the future,” said Dr Angela Pratt.

HOANG LAN

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