Head of the administration Truong Quoc Cuong ordered the National Institute for Vaccine and Biological Control to start testing its stored measles vaccines and other vaccines produced inside and outside the country.

The request was made after HCM City clinics ran out of vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.

The administration also required local health departments to order enough measles vaccines for the National Innoculation Programme.

Companies importing vaccines were asked to take stock of their stored vaccines and to map out plans to supply local health departments, Cuong said.

Over 325 people have been diagnosed with measles in the northern provinces. Of the figure, 322 cases were reported in Hanoi, said director of the Hanoi Health Department Le Anh Tuan.

People who had never been immunised accounted for 75 percent of the cases, said deputy director of the Hanoi Preventive Medicine Department Nguyen Hoa Binh.

There had been no reported cases of measles in Hanoi since 2005 before the disease hit in late 2008, he said.

The Hanoi Preventive Medicine Department on February 9 asked schools and universities to intensify supervision of measles cases and to ensure patients are kept isolated and given proper treatment to prevent the disease from spreading further.

It has also provided training for nearly 100 health workers at schools and universities in the city on measles prevention and control measures.

Under Vietnam’s measles control strategy, the country plans to control the circulation of measles virus and stamp out the disease by 2012.

Head of the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department Nguyen Huy Nga said children between 9 and 11 months old would be vaccinated against measles. There would be a second vaccination for children between 1 and 11 years old nationwide under the National Vaccination Plan.

HCM City planned to provide second vaccinations for children in first grade across 24 districts as part of the National Vaccination Programme, said Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of the municipal health department.

The municipal Preventive Medicine Department has inoculated 100,000 pupils against measles.