Vietnam will use three new vaccines in the national expanded vaccination programme (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will use threenew vaccines in the national expanded vaccination programme (NEVP) this year,heard a workshop held by the Ministry of Health (MoH) on April 16.
ComBe Five will replace Quinvaxem in the NEVP, according to Prof. Dang Duc Anh, Directorof the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).
Quinvaxem (a combination vaccine for diphtheria,tetanus, pertussis and hepatitis B for children under one year old), which wasused in the NEVP for more than seven years, will be used nationwide until theend of May.
ComBe Five, a similar vaccine will be used in fourprovinces of Ha Nam, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum and Dong Thap, before being widelyutilised nationwide from June and July.
The India-made vaccine wasapproved by the MoH in May 2017, Anh said, adding that it is being used in morethan 43 countries and territories.
Vietnamstarted the use of five-in-one vaccine in June 2010, with about 41 million freeQuinvaxem doses provided for children under one year old.
At the workshop, the MoH also announced that theinactivated polio vaccine (IPV), with the support of “Gavi, the VaccineAlliance” and UNICEF, will be used in the NEVP for children of five months old,starting August 2018.
The IPV injections will be administered tochildren aged five months alongside the use of oral polio vaccine, which isprovided for children aged two, three and four months.
This move is in conformity with the WorldHealth Organisation’s Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan2013–2018.
Vietnam controlled the spread of polio in 2000thanks to the deployment of polio vaccines in the NEVP.
In addition, the made-in Vietnamrubella vaccine has been used in the programme in 19 localities since April. Morethan 50,000 children of 18-24 months old have been immunised with the vaccine,with no reports of severe reactions.-VNA
