Regarding the shortage of vaccines in the expanded immunization program, in a press release on June 14, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that there is currently only a shortage of the "5 in 1" vaccine to prevent diseases, including: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis/pneumonia caused by HiB bacteria and hepatitis B.
Ms. Lan said that through reviewing the source of vaccines transferred from 2022, for domestically produced vaccines, the expanded immunization program has provided enough vaccines for 2022 and until July 2023.
Hepatitis B vaccine and tuberculosis vaccine will be used until August 2023. Japanese encephalitis, measles, and rubella vaccines will be enough until the second and third quarters of 2023. In addition, tetanus and polio vaccines will be enough to meet the demand until the end of 2023.
Only the imported "5 in 1" vaccine, because in 2022, bidding and procurement procedures were carried out according to regulations but there were no contractors participating, so there was a shortage from February 2023 until now.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan.
According to the head of the health sector, the Government has decided to assign the Ministry of Health to proactively develop a pricing plan and send it to the Ministry of Finance for early appraisal. This is the basis for ordering the “5 in 1” vaccine.
Ms. Lan shared: "From now until we can buy vaccines from the central budget, how to ensure vaccines for children is a matter that we are very concerned about. The leaders of the Ministry and I and other units have worked with partners. It is really difficult for the partners, but at the request of the Ministry, they have tried every way to find support for Vietnam."
According to Ms. Lan, the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and WHO in Vietnam have agreed to provide Vietnam with emergency support of over 200,000 doses of the "5 in 1" vaccine for children.
"In addition, with more than 65,000 doses of the "5 in 1" vaccine funded domestically, vaccines will be guaranteed to be given priority to children in remote areas - where it is difficult to access the "5 in 1" vaccine service. The Ministry of Health is quickly accessing this aid source," the head of the health sector added.
The Ministry of Health is assigned a budget source from the central budget to carry out procurement for the vaccine procurement program, ensuring it for 2021 and 2022.
More than 200,000 doses of 5-in-1 vaccine will soon be given to children from the support source.
However, by 2023, because the health-population target program will be converted into a regular expenditure program of localities, according to the provisions of the Law on Public Investment, the Ministry of Health will not be allowed to allocate the State budget to carry out this task.
The head of the health sector also affirmed that there is no phenomenon of the Ministry of Health “passing” responsibility to the locality or the disease of fear of responsibility spreading to the Ministry of Health. With the responsibility of the sector, the Ministry of Health really wants to continue to carry out this task to ensure vaccination nationwide, ensuring fairness for women and children.
The Minister of Health added that he has asked for opinions on continuing to allocate the central budget to continue implementing the Expanded Immunization Program to ensure effectiveness and consistency nationwide. This is an issue that requires a National Assembly Resolution.
The draft Resolution has been consulted with Government members. The Minister of Health hopes that the Resolution will be issued soon .
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