Central budget allocated to buy vaccines for expanded immunisation programme
The central budget will continue to be allocated for the Ministry of Health to purchase vaccines for the expanded program on immunization for all localities nationwide.
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The central budget will continue to be allocated for the Ministry of Health to purchase vaccines for the expanded program on immunization for all localities nationwide.
The Government assigned the ministry to guide localities in planning and determining their vaccine needs, and organize the purchase in accordance with regulations, ensuring thrift, efficiency, promptness, and safety.
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| Central budget to be allocated to buy vaccines for expanded immunization program.. (Photo: VNA) |
The Vietnamese expanded program on immunization (EPI), launched in 1981, is providing vaccines for 12 preventable diseases, namely Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hib, Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera (in high-risk areas), and Typhoid (in high-risk areas).
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in Vietnam, it is estimated that the EPI has saved 42,000 lives and prevented more than 6.7 million childhood diseases like polio, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, and pertussis with high vaccine coverage. Official 2017 data indicated a coverage of 97 per cent for Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), 97 per cent for the measles-containing vaccine (MCV) first dose, and 93 per cent for MCV second dose.
Dr. Dang Thanh Huyen, Deputy Head of the EPI Office under the Ministry of Health, said on July 10 that many new kinds of vaccines will be included in the program in the coming time.
According to the roadmap, the vaccine against Rotavirus will be provided in a number of localities in 2023 and the whole nation in 2024.
Meanwhile, vaccines against pneumococcal disease, cervical cancer, and seasonal flu will be introduced in 2025, 2026, and 2030, respectively, said Huyen.
(Source: Vietnamplus)
