Ten vaccine types ready for national expanded programme on immunisation

ABO/NDO- The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has signed contracts with domestic vaccine producers on the supply of ten types of vaccines used for the national expanded programme on immunisation (EPI).

According to the institute, the vaccines will be soon allocated to localities this month. Specifically, there will be over 1.55 million doses of BCG vaccine for Tuberculosis, 1 million doses of Hepatitis B vaccine, 4.98 million doses of oral Polio vaccine (OPV), 1.9 million doses of Measles vaccine; 1.7 million doses of Measles-Rubella vaccine; 1.4 million doses of Japanese Encephalitis vaccine; 1.53 million doses of combined Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus vaccine (DPT); 1.47 million doses of Tetanus vaccine and 1.37 million doses of Tetanus-Diphtheria (TD) vaccine.

The quantity of these nine vaccines is enough to vaccinate children who did not get vaccinated in 2023 and those who are scheduled to be vaccinated in the first six months of 2024, according to a representative of the institute.

Particularly, nearly 550,000 doses of Rota vaccine which has been added to the EPI will be provided to children under 1-year-old from the second quarter of this year.

The EPI is a WHO programme that was launched in 1974 and was introduced in Vietnam in 1981. It provides vaccines for 12 preventable diseases, namely Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hib, Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera (in high-risk areas), and Typhoid (in high-risk areas).

(Source: NDO)