Vietnam has first vaccine against 20 pneumococcal strains for adults

VNVC has just launched a new vaccine to prevent 20 strains of pneumococcus for adults, including highly virulent strains that cause pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, etc.

VNVC vaccination system announced the launch and implementation of pneumococcal vaccine 20 at more than 220 centers nationwide on the morning of May 26. (Photo: Moc Thao)

On May 26, the VNVC Vaccination System announced the launch and implementation of the first injection in Vietnam of the pneumococcal vaccine 20 (PCV20), produced by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Group (USA) using advanced technology. The vaccine helps prevent 20 strains of pneumococcus that cause invasive and non-invasive pneumococcal diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, otitis media, sinusitis, etc.

Thus, in just 2 weeks, VNVC has consecutively introduced two new pneumococcal vaccines into the community, affirming its pioneering role in quickly updating global medical advances, opening up opportunities for Vietnamese children and adults to have full access to the world's leading new, effective and safe vaccines.

Pneumococcal vaccine 20 is for adults aged 18 and over, and will be expanded to children in the near future. The vaccine has been shown to produce a high level of immune response and provide long-term protection for users, while reducing the rate of healthy carriers, thereby reducing the possibility of disease spread in the community.

Currently, pneumococcal vaccine 20 is used in nearly 50 countries around the world such as the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia... all of which have shown clear effectiveness in reducing the incidence and mortality of pneumococcal disease in adults.

Dr. Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of VNVC Vaccination System, said that pneumococcal vaccine 20 has a single injection schedule. People at high risk of pneumococcal diseases will be advised by their doctor on an appropriate injection schedule. For people who have been vaccinated against pneumococcus before, the doctor will consider prescribing a sequential or combined injection schedule to achieve the most optimal protection.

According to Dr. Chinh, pneumococcal bacteria have more than 100 serotypes that cause diverse and complex diseases, and antibiotic resistance is increasingly serious. Researching and applying pneumococcal vaccines that can protect, cover more strains, reduce resistance rates, and abuse of antibiotics in treatment is a common and urgent trend in global medicine.

Therefore, scientists at many research institutes and vaccine manufacturers around the world have been constantly working to research and develop new pneumococcal vaccines with increasingly high effectiveness and safety. This is especially important to better protect public health, especially in the context of increasing respiratory diseases worldwide.

“ The diversity of pneumococcal vaccines clearly reflects the complexity and danger of the pneumococcal bacterial flora, which is the cause of many serious diseases that are difficult to diagnose and treat.

VNVC’s addition of the pneumococcal 20 vaccine gives people more flexible vaccination options, suitable for their age, health, immune status, and epidemiological characteristics in each locality. This also helps expand the scope of protection, disease prevention effectiveness, and helps people reduce costs as well as the burden caused by pneumococcus,” Dr. Chinh shared.

Elderly people get pneumococcal vaccine 20 at VNVC Vaccination Center on the morning of May 26

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year, approximately 1.6 million children and adults die from pneumococcal disease worldwide. The risk of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults increases with age and associated chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), etc. More seriously, pneumococcal bacteria can co-infect with many other complex circulating respiratory pathogens such as influenza, Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), etc., increasing the risk of death.

In addition to bringing to Vietnam many new types of vaccines, new generation vaccines, to help protect people's health, VNVC also built the VNVC Vaccine and Biological Products Factory in Long An province. This factory has an initial investment of about 2,000 billion VND, is designed with modern technology and the world's leading technology, capable of producing many different types of vaccines, aiming to proactively supply vaccines to people in the country, aiming to participate in the global vaccine supply chain, ready to meet the demand for future epidemic prevention vaccines.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/viet-nam-lan-dau-co-vaccine-phong-20-chung-phe-cau-cho-nguoi-lon-412486.html