Behind the story of vaccines

(Baonghean.vn) -During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh taught: "For the benefit of ten years, plant trees. For the benefit of a hundred years, cultivate people." Caring for, educating, and protecting children is fulfilling the task of cultivating people, for the long-term benefit of the country. And expanded immunization programs have truly been and continue to be a good solution for the community, and are in line with protecting the nation's "young shoots."

However, in recent days, while people are still worried about the incident of vaccination staff embezzling vaccines and administering pre-mixed vaccines improperly at Vaccination Center No. 70 Nguyen Chi Thanh - Hanoi, the recent incident of staff at the Preventive Medicine Center of Tuy Hoa City (Phu Yen province) administering expired vaccines to children has caused widespread outrage. After the incident of administering expired vaccines came to light, an official from the Phu Yen provincial health department suggested that it was likely a mistake during the inspection process, as the expiration date on this batch of vaccines was marked with Roman numerals. According to the Ministry of Health's regulations, expired vaccines must not be used. To date, there are no guidelines on how to handle the situation if expired vaccines have been administered (!?)

Returning to the incident at Vaccination Center No. 70 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Hanoi, after the irregularities in vaccine administration were discovered, the health sector and Hanoi city leaders took timely and decisive action. Initially, they reviewed the entire vaccination process at 29 district and county health centers; intensified regular and surprise inspections at vaccination sites; and installed a surveillance camera system. On May 21st, the employee who committed the irregularities in administering vaccines to children was disciplined and dismissed. However, parents of the child involved in the vaccine embezzlement case, as well as many others, believe that the punishment is too lenient. They question why only that employee was punished, while others in management positions were not; and whether the violations were systemic. Public opinion is concerned about the potential negative effects of administering vaccines with insufficient dosage or expired vaccines, and whether there are any serious health complications or adverse events. I'm not sure if my child has had any problems with vaccinations before.

After what happened, many parents shook their heads in dismay, fearing rigged scales and shortchanging at the market; they worried about expired goods and thought such things only happened in markets and small stalls, but that it could happen in the healthcare sector was truly unbelievable. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha from Ben Thuy ward (Vinh City) shared: "I have a nearly one-year-old child and I fully vaccinated him and never doubted it. Because I always thought that using safe and high-quality medicine was the responsibility and professional conscience of healthcare workers. However, after what happened, Ms. Ha, like many other parents with children of vaccination age (and even parents whose children have passed the vaccination age), is suspicious and believes it's necessary to be cautious and prevent fraud, even in the vaccination process."

Building trust is not easy, so to prevent similar incidents from happening again, people hope that the health sector will find solutions to strictly control the quality of vaccinations and the behavior of staff, so that vaccination truly becomes a deeply humane program for children.

Thu Huyen