Vietnam Capital City Faces Vaccine Shortage

Several vaccination centers in Vietnam’s Hanoi have run out of paid vaccines in recent months, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported on June 1. Famous centers such as vaccination center under the management of the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the center under Hanoi Preventive health centers have reported a shortage in paid vaccine since the beginning of 2014. Two major shortage vaccines are (1) Pentaxim, which is used for infants from six weeks of age against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis and invasive infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b, (2) Hexa, which is used to prevent six diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B, poliomyelitis (polio) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Head of the Preventive Health Department Tran Dac Phu attributed this shortage of vaccine to the low supply from vaccination firms and warned that the issue will run till the end of this year. Mr. Phu also pointed out that several families decided to wait for paid vaccine instead of using free vaccine, which led to the infection of pertussis in children. There are currently over 150 children hospitalized in National Hospital of Pediatrics for having sign of the disease. Mr. Phu said that essential vaccines are provided freely under the expanded programs on immunization (EPI) nationwide and parents should vaccinate their children for better protection. EPI started out in Vietnam in 1980 and is currently supplying 12 kind of vaccines. Each year 1.6 million children are born in Vietnam and 96% of them got fully vaccinated through the EPI. Meanwhile, two types of paid vaccines mentioned above totaled only 400-500,000 doses, equivalent to more than 100,000 children got vaccinated. (Thanh Nien – Young People June 1 P13, CDC.org)