Like other countries around the world, routine immunisation services in Vietnam have been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The National Institute of
Hygiene and Epidemiology on August 15 decided to allocate 185,000 doses of the to 49 cities and provinces within this month.
The vaccine helps protect children against
diphtheria, oping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae
type b (Hib).
The doses are part of a batch of the vaccine funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations
Children’s Fund (), which arrived in Hanoi on July 27 to serve the
national expanded immunisation programme.
Earlier, 72,300 doses were distributed to 14
northern mountainous provinces, using domestic funding.
Like other countries around the world, routine
immunisation services in Vietnam have been disrupted during the COVID-19
pandemic, resulting in approximately 114,000 children under one year old
missing vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, which are used as
indicators of global immunisation coverage, in 2022.
Moreover, due to the recent shortage of the 5-in-1
vaccine, an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese children born in the beginning of 2023
have yet to receive this essential vaccine.
WHO Representative in Vietnam Angela Pratt affirmed the organisation will continue to collaborate with UNICEF and other partners to support the
Vietnamese Government, ensuring that all children in every corner of the
country receive complete and timely immunisations, both now and in the
future./.
Source: VietnamPlus
