HCMC: Many vaccines in the expanded immunization program have run out and are about to run out.

SGGPO 05/16/2023 08:51

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine was last supplied in October 2022 and has been out since early March 2023, the DPT vaccine was last supplied in February 2023 and has been out since early May 2023.

Medical staff vaccinate children

On May 16, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health announced that by May 15, vaccination facilities in the city had completely run out of DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine (a 5-in-1 combination vaccine to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, Hib pneumonia and Hib meningitis) and DPT (to prevent 3 infectious diseases: diphtheria - whooping cough - tetanus) in the Expanded Immunization Program (EPI).

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine was last supplied in October 2022 and has been out since early March 2023, the DPT vaccine was last supplied in February 2023 and has been out since early May 2023. Other vaccines in the EPI Program are only available in very limited quantities and are expected to run out in the next few months if no more are supplied.

Specifically, by the end of May 2023, the city will run out of hepatitis B and Japanese encephalitis vaccines; by mid-June 2023, it will run out of tuberculosis vaccine (BCG); by July 2023, it will run out of polio vaccine (bOPV) and measles vaccine; by August 2023, it will run out of tetanus vaccine (VAT) and by the end of September 2023, it will run out of measles and rubella (MR) vaccines.

Up to now, every month, the Department of Health has directed the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) to report the vaccine reserve in the EPI Program to the EPI Project in the Southern region (undertaken by the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City) and receive vaccines from the Institute every 2 months.

The last time HCDC received vaccines was on April 24, 2023 (including BCG, bOPV, Japanese encephalitis, measles, tetanus and hepatitis B vaccines).

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the current temporary interruption in the supply of some vaccines in the EPI Program in Ho Chi Minh City is unavoidable. The Department of Health has directed the expanded vaccination facilities in the area to maintain regular operations according to a fixed schedule to vaccinate the remaining vaccines; at the same time, make a list of children who are scheduled for vaccination but have not been vaccinated to invite them to be vaccinated as soon as the vaccines are supplied again.

“We hope that the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will soon resume supplying vaccines under the EPI Program,” the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health suggested, saying that vaccines under the EPI Program play an important role in protecting children’s health and controlling epidemics in the community. To provide the best protection for children, vaccines must be given on schedule and in sufficient doses. In case the vaccination schedule is interrupted, children need to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

The EPI program was initiated in Vietnam in 1981 by the Ministry of Health with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The program's initial goal was to provide free vaccination services for children under 1 year of age, protecting them from 6 common and highly fatal infectious diseases.

After a pilot period, the EPI Program was gradually expanded in terms of both location and vaccination target. Since 1985, all children under 1 year old nationwide have had the opportunity to access the EPI Program.

By 2010, 11 vaccines to prevent common and dangerous infectious diseases for children had been included in the EPI Program, including vaccines to prevent tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, measles, Japanese encephalitis, cholera, typhoid, and pneumonia/meningitis caused by Hib.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tphcm-nhieu-vaccine-trong-tiem-chung-mo-rong-da-het-va-sap-het-post689848.html