Vietnam to Add Three New Vaccines to National Immunization Program

Vietnam will add vaccines against pneumonia, diarrhea and the HPV virus that causes cervical cancer to the national immunization program, with support from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, state media reported. Each year, vaccines help prevent three million deaths and save 750,000 children across the world from permanent disability caused by vaccine-preventable diseases, said Nguyen Ngoc Anh Tuan, deputy head of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Pasteur Institute’s Clinical Biology Tests Department. Pneumonia caused by the pneumococcus bacteria is the leading cause of death in children, according to Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of the HCMC Children No.1 Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Department. The bacteria often live in the ear, nose and throat of healthy people and can cause illness in children under five years old, including minor ailments such as sore throat, rhinitis and otitis media, and more serious diseases like pneumonia, meningitis and blood sepsis. 56% of diarrhea cases in children are due to rotavirus. Because of vomiting and diarrhea up to 20 times a day, the children can become seriously dehydrated. Luu Van Minh, head of the HCMC Oncology Hospital’s Radiation Department, said that HPV was the main cause of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in woman aged 15-44 in Vietnam. In Vietnam, there are more than 5,000 cases of cervical cancer. Half of the women with the disease die each year. (baophapluat.vn Aug 11, hanoimoi.ocm.vn Aug 11)