Vietnam has produced and successfully tested the use of anti-diarrhea vaccine for children, becoming the 4th country in the world to make Rotavirus vaccine. The Rotavin-M1 vaccine was licensed to be offered in the market by the Ministry of Health (MoH) after successful clinical tests were done on more than 30 adults and 1,000 children aged six to 12 weeks in two northern provinces of Phu Tho and Thai Binh. Rotavin-M1 has been evaluated by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and approved for use by the Vietnam’s National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biological. So far, some 100,000 children in 60 cities and provinces have been vaccinated against rotavirus infection, the most common cause of severe diarrhea, said Associate Prof. Le Thi Luan, deputy head of the ministry’s Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biological, which has conducted research on the vaccine since 1998. If the vaccine is added to the national immunization program, the center can supply about 4.5 million of doses per year, she said. Meanwhile, each dose of the homemade vaccine costs around VND200,000 ($9), one-third the price of imported vaccine, Mrs. Luan said, adding that the quality of this vaccine is equivalent to Belgium’s Rotarix vaccine. Statistics by the MoH show that more than 50% of children under five-years-old suffer from diarrhea annually and around 6,000 babies aged below five die of this disease per year. (Vov.vn Feb 19, Vtv.vn Feb 17, www.anninhthudo.vn [1] Feb 19)
