Expanded immunization program in Ho Chi Minh City is only enough for 2 weeks

Vaccines under the Expanded Immunization Program in Ho Chi Minh City are running out, only enough to vaccinate children for free for the next two weeks, and will likely be available again in December.

On the afternoon of October 11, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that there are only nearly 3,000 doses of DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine (a 5-in-1 vaccine to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, Hib pneumonia and Hib meningitis) left. The city's Ministry of Health allocated 12,400 doses of this vaccine from support from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund on August 15, and it has been administered to children for nearly two months.

Other types of vaccines such as measles-rubella vaccine have only 2,300 doses left, measles vaccine has 660 doses left, tetanus vaccine has 600 doses left, hepatitis B vaccine has 89 doses left... It is expected that the city will run out of vaccines for children in two weeks.

The Department continues to recommend the Ministry of Health to speed up the vaccine supply roadmap. In the meantime, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control continues to coordinate the remaining vaccine resources between districts. Health stations review and strictly manage the list of children who are due for new and booster vaccinations to promptly remind and deploy vaccinations as soon as the vaccine is available again.

The health sector recommends that the 5-in-1 vaccine service (for a fee) is still available at many facilities in the area. In case of necessity, parents can consider taking their children to medical facilities for consultation and vaccination as needed.

For many years, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has been responsible for vaccine supply. Since 2022, the supply has been interrupted due to changes in the procurement mechanism. The Ministry of Finance has not allocated a budget for the Ministry of Health to purchase, and localities have had to purchase on their own, but all provinces and cities have encountered difficulties. To resolve the problem, in July, the Prime Minister issued a resolution requiring the Ministry of Health to purchase vaccines.

Accordingly, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology is making efforts to resume the vaccine procurement process. On October 6, the Institute requested localities to review the quantity of vaccines. It is expected that by the end of December at the earliest, the Institute will have a source of supply of vaccines under the Expanded Immunization Program.

Expanded Immunization is a national, free immunization program that protects children from a number of common and highly fatal infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, measles, Japanese encephalitis, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, and Hib meningitis.

Le Phuong

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