Ministry of Health proposes solutions to avoid vaccine shortage in 2024

In 2023, many localities will face a shortage of vaccines for expanded vaccination. In many places, the vaccination rate has not met requirements.

Faced with this issue, many people are worried that this situation may last until 2024. This is also an issue that many people are concerned about and at the press conference on the afternoon of December 15, the Ministry of Health gave a specific explanation.

Ministry of Health if solution to avoid vaccine shortage in 2024 image 1 — Vaccine issue was a hot topic at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Health held on the afternoon of December 15 (photo TL).

According to the explanation in the press release of the Ministry of Health, in order to avoid a shortage of vaccines in 2024, the Ministry of Health is coordinating with relevant ministries and branches to consult on amending Decree No. 104/2016/ND-CP dated July 1, 2016 of the Government regulating vaccination activities, which allows the allocation of the central budget to ensure funding for purchasing vaccines for the expanded vaccination program.

“It is expected to complete the procurement of domestically ordered vaccines (10 types) in December 2023 according to the number of provinces and cities proposing the demand by June 2024, thereby ensuring the supply of vaccines in 2024 in the Expanded Immunization Program, meeting the current needs of the people as well as following the direction of the Government, complying with the provisions of current laws” - the explanation of the Ministry of Health clearly stated.

According to the Ministry of Health's explanation, if the budget had been allocated earlier, the Ministry of Health would have soon placed orders or bid to purchase vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program in accordance with the law.

“In the coming time, the Ministry of Health will also review vaccine sources and actively work with domestic and foreign donors to support resources for the Expanded Immunization Program. The Ministry of Health will continue to direct units to implement vaccine supply according to current regulations.

Continue to direct localities to be proactive in monitoring, detecting epidemics and responding, implementing measures to vaccinate high-risk groups in epidemic areas to contain and prevent the disease from spreading" - the Ministry of Health's report stated.

According to the report of the Ministry of Health, in the near future, the Ministry will prioritize the allocated vaccines to vaccinate children who have not received the first dose of DPT-VGB-Hib vaccine. Priority will be given to children in the youngest age group from 2 months old first, then to children in the older age group, including children over 12 months old.

Vaccinate children who have not received all 3 doses of DPT-VGB-Hib vaccine, including children over 12 months old.

Thus, it can be seen that in 2024, preventing vaccine shortages and timely supplementary vaccination for unvaccinated children is one of the priority tasks of the health sector.

Source