Ministry of Health receives 500,000 doses of measles vaccine to control the epidemic

On March 17, 2025, at the Ministry of Health, a ceremony was held to donate 500,000 doses of measles vaccine to the Ministry of Health.

On March 17, 2025, at the Ministry of Health, a ceremony was held to donate 500,000 doses of measles vaccine to the Ministry of Health.

This is an extremely important and meaningful event in the context of the measles epidemic continuing to develop complicatedly in some localities and the need to provide additional vaccines to implement the measles vaccination campaign, in order to control the epidemic in the community.

This is a sponsorship of 500,000 doses of measles vaccine for free vaccination for children, implementing Official Dispatch No. 23/CD-TTg dated March 15, 2025 of the Prime Minister on accelerating vaccination against measles, in order to quickly control the epidemic, prevent the spread and outbreak on a large scale.

The Ministry of Health hopes to continue receiving support from organizations, individuals and health agencies in vaccination work to repel measles epidemics in the shortest time.

The Department of Disease Prevention and the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute will continue to guide the proper and safe use of vaccines, ensuring vaccination effectiveness, avoiding overlap or duplication, and complying with current professional regulations. Vaccines will be distributed to the right beneficiaries, ensuring effective vaccination.

Measles vaccine has been included in the Expanded Immunization Program in Vietnam since October 1985. After 40 years of vaccination, the measles incidence has decreased significantly. The incidence rate has decreased from 112.8/100,000 people in 1986 to 29.8/100,000 people in 2010.

In particular, after the nationwide measles vaccination campaign for children aged 1-5 years in late 2010, the measles incidence rate continued to decrease sharply in 2010-2012.

However, measles outbreaks still occur in cycles of about five years, such as the measles outbreaks in 2014-2015, 2019-2020, and the current outbreak in 2024-2025.

As of early 2025, the country had recorded about 40,000 suspected cases of measles, including 5 deaths. Notably, the number of measles cases in the Southern region accounted for the highest rate (57%), followed by the Central region (19.2%), the North (15.1%) and the Central Highlands (8.7%). Most of the measles cases were children who had not been vaccinated or had not received enough doses of measles vaccine.

Under the direction of the Ministry of Health, in addition to continuing to vaccinate children under the Expanded Immunization Program, a measles vaccination campaign for children aged 1-10 years old has been implemented in 31 provinces and cities since September 2024.

To date, 28/31 provinces and cities have completed the first phase of the measles vaccination campaign, while 3 localities are continuing to carry out catch-up and catch-up vaccinations for those who have not been fully vaccinated.

On January 22, 2025, the Ministry of Health approved the plan to implement the 2025 measles vaccination campaign, adding subjects aged 6-9 months in 24 provinces and cities and continuing to implement it for subjects aged 1-10 years in 17 other provinces and cities. To date, the vaccination campaign has been implemented in 45 provinces and cities nationwide.

On March 15, 2025, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No. 23/CD-TTg on accelerating vaccination against measles.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Health to ensure sufficient vaccines and timely distribution to localities to effectively implement the Expanded Immunization Program, and at the same time direct provinces and cities to complete the vaccination campaign before March 31, 2025.

With the timely support of 500,000 doses of measles vaccine from Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company, the Ministry of Health will continue to implement the vaccination campaign, expand the scope of implementation and quickly control the measles epidemic nationwide.

At the Ceremony, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, Deputy Minister of Health, expressed her deep gratitude to Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) for this support.

She affirmed that the measles vaccine has played an important role in disease prevention in Vietnam, contributing to reducing the rate of measles over the past 40 years.

However, given the complicated developments of the epidemic, the Ministry of Health will continue to implement the vaccination campaign quickly and effectively, ensuring the goal of vaccinating 95% of children in high-risk areas.

The Deputy Minister of Health also emphasized that the Ministry of Health hopes to continue receiving support from organizations, individuals and health agencies in vaccination work to repel measles epidemics in the shortest time.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/bo-y-te-nhan-500000-lieu-vac-xin-phong-soi-de-khong-che-dich-benh-d255335.html