Vietnam purchases 5-in-1 vaccine to address vaccine shortages
VOV.VN - The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) has just delivered the first batch of 500,000 doses of 5-in-1 DPT-HBV-Hib vaccine to Pasteur Institutes across the country to address vaccine shortages for the National Expanded Programme on Immunization.
Pasteur institutes will shortly distribute the vaccine to all 63 provinces and cities to vaccinate children in the next two months, said NIHE vice director Duong Thi Hong.
The 500,000 does are among the 2.8 million doses of the 5-in-1 vaccine that the Ministry of Health has just completed procedures for procurement and bidding. Last August, the ministry was allocated funding to buy vaccines in the Expanded Programme on Immunization.
The 5-in-1 DPT-VGB-Hib vaccine is used to prevent five child killers - diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Small children are susceptible to these dangerous infectious diseases that can affect their health, development and even lead to death.
The vaccine was licensed in India in 2009 and approved by the World health Organisation a year later. It has been licensed for widespread use in 80 countries and territories worldwide.
In Vietnam, this vaccine is included in the regular Expanded Programme on Immunization, and children within the recommended age group are given free shots.
However, the vaccine has been in short supply in many localities since late 2023, prompting the Ministry of Health to lobby domestic and international donors to source this vaccine for children.
Following the distribution of the 500,000 doses of the 5-in-1 DPT-VGB-Hib vaccine, the ministry will continue to deliver this vaccine in the next batches to localities, to ensure a stable supply of the vaccine for the Expanded Programme on Immunization this year.
