Nghe An responds to shortage and changes in expanded immunization vaccine supply

Implementing the expanded immunization program, each child in Nghe An after birth will receive 3 free vaccinations.Vaccine“5 in 1”in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th months. When the child is 18 months old, he or she will be given a booster shot with the DPT vaccine. Both vaccines are designed to prevent children from contracting 5 extremely dangerous diseases: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia, and meningitis caused by Hib bacteria.

However, at this time, the injection of the above two vaccines for children in Nghe An is being stopped due to the interruption of vaccine supply. The central government does not have vaccines to supply to Nghe An province in particular and other provinces and cities in the country in general... This interruption of vaccine supply will immediately affect the vaccination rate in Nghe An. Children after birth who are not vaccinated are very susceptible to the above diseases. And if the interruption continues, there will be a high risk of disease cases appearing and becoming an epidemic.

Vaccination is the best way to prevent diseases in children. Photo: Thanh Chung

The content of the interruption in the supply of "5 in 1" and DPT vaccines is stated in Document No. 700/VSDTTU-TCQG on the supply of vaccines in the expanded immunization program in 2023 dated April 20, 2023 of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Ministry of Health sent to the Centers for Disease Control of provinces/cities.

Accordingly, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology estimates that the ability to supply vaccines in the expanded immunization program in 2023 for localities is the "5 in 1" vaccine to be supplied until February 2023; DPT vaccine to be supplied until the end of April 2023.

In addition, 11 out of 13 vaccines under the expanded immunization program will also be gradually interrupted. Vaccines against tuberculosis, hepatitis B, oral polio, measles, measles-rubella and Japanese encephalitis B will only be supplied until July 2023; tetanus and polio vaccines will be supplied until December 2023.

The interruption in vaccine supply originated from the fact that at the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance proposed to implement the regulations on budget decentralization, localities will balance the budget used to purchase vaccination vaccines, deploy procurement bidding instead of the Ministry of Health purchasing as before.

On that basis, on April 3, the Ministry of Health issued Document No. 1810/BYT-KH-TC to provinces/cities on the implementation of tasks under the health-population target program converted into regular expenditure tasks. Provinces need to purchase vaccines for expanded immunization, vaccination supplies from local budgets and other legally mobilized sources... according to regulations.

List of Vaccines to be purchased in 2023 and 2024. Photo: Thanh Chung

Thus, from now on, provinces and centrally-run cities must proactively allocate budgets to purchase vaccines and vaccination supplies to serve local expanded immunization work, instead of waiting for the National Expanded Immunization Program to purchase and provide as before. (Previously, when purchasing vaccines and vaccination supplies, the Ministry of Health would order from companies and the Ministry of Finance would pay).

Faced with the shortage of “5 in 1” vaccines, DPT vaccines in particular, and many other vaccines in the near future, this May, Nghe An Center for Disease Control issued a document requesting public and private medical facilities to communicate to the public about the disruption and proactively choose the appropriate vaccination method for the subjects.

Mr. Chu Trong Trang - Director of Nghe An Center for Disease Control stated: In the face of the lack of vaccines, Nghe An province recommends that people with economic conditions, if they do not want their children to have their vaccinations interrupted or have to wait for vaccinations, can have their children vaccinated by service. Currently, the service vaccines available on the Nghe An market are sufficient for children.

In the case of children who have not been vaccinated with the “5 in 1” vaccine, families can give them separate vaccinations to prevent each disease… If children have been vaccinated with the first and second doses of the “5 in 1” vaccine, it means that their bodies have a certain immunity. Families can also let their children wait a few more months, when the “5 in 1” vaccine is available, they can continue to vaccinate. This wait does not affect the children’s immunity too much.

Previously, to avoid local vaccine shortages, Nghe An Health Department proactively based on vaccine batches and vaccine expiry dates to obtain the maximum number of vaccines possible from the Central Government for the locality. This initiative prevented the province from having local shortages and large quantities of vaccines.

The provinces and cities suggested that the optimal solution is for the Ministry of Health to continue to conduct bidding and centralized procurement of expanded immunization vaccines and distribute them to localities. Photo: Document

Responding to the direction of the Ministry of Health, Nghe An Department of Health has completed the estimate of the number of vaccines and vaccination supplies needed in the last months of 2023 and the whole of 2024; proposed and advised the Provincial People's Committee to purchase vaccines and vaccination supplies. It is estimated that the total number of vaccine doses needed to be purchased from June 2023 to December 2024 is 3,342,932 doses (13 types); equivalent to nearly 113 billion VND. The cost of consumables for vaccination from June 2023 to December 2024 is nearly 2.8 billion VND. The cost of purchasing child vaccination books in 2024 is over 468 million VND.

Along with the procurement plan, Nghe An province has also reported to the Government for research and directed the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health and relevant units to arrange funds for the procurement of vaccines and vaccination supplies through centralized bidding at the central level, then provide them to localities.

And if using local budgets to purchase vaccines and vaccination supplies, it is also necessary to amend decrees and circulars related to vaccination. The decrees and circulars clearly state: Vaccines and vaccination supplies will be provided by the Central Government to provinces and cities to implement free vaccination for children.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health suggested: The purchase money is still the budget, buying in large quantities will certainly be cheaper, but letting localities buy may lead to a situation where one locality buys expensively, another locality buys cheaply. The optimal solution is that the Ministry of Health still conducts bidding, centrally purchases expanded immunization vaccines or the Ministry of Health can still buy as before, then transfer the budget for vaccines to localities for payment.

Currently, vaccine purchasing options are being calculated by ministries, departments, branches and localities. However, it is worth noting that the missing vaccines still cannot be scheduled to be supplied again!