Lack of free vaccines for children, Ministry of Health proposes separate mechanism

On June 1, the Ministry of Health said that it has so far received documents from 16 provinces and cities reporting a number of difficulties and problems in implementing the procurement of expanded immunization vaccines.

Accordingly, the main problems focus on local budget allocation, procurement price reference and implementation organization... and the Ministry of Health is requested to conduct centralized bidding, order or negotiate prices for vaccines in the expanded immunization program.

However, with domestically produced expanded immunization vaccines, the Ministry of Health said that according to the Law on Bidding, the agency is currently unable to conduct procurement through national centralized bidding or procurement in special cases.

Therefore, to meet the requirementsVaccineUrgently, the Ministry of Health proposed that the Government issue a Resolution allowing the implementation of a vaccine procurement mechanism for the Expanded Immunization Program from local budgets.

Vaccination. Photo: illustration

Accordingly, with 10 types of vaccines (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT); adsorbed tetanus vaccine (TT); tuberculosis vaccine (BCG); adsorbed tetanus, diphtheria vaccine (Td); Japanese encephalitis; hepatitis B; measles; measles - Rubella (MRVAC); polio (bOPV) and Rota produced domestically), the Ministry of Health proposed to be assigned the task of synthesizing the needs of localities, placing orders, synthesizing plans of vaccine manufacturers and sending them to the Ministry of Finance.

Provinces and cities authorize the Ministry of Health to place orders with domestic manufacturers; the Ministry of Finance reviews and approves prices as a basis for localities to sign orders and make direct payments to suppliers.

The Ministry of Health also recommended that the Government assign the Ministry of Finance to urgently study and propose amendments to Decree No. 32/2019, Decree No. 177/2013 and Decree No. 149/2016 to ensure sufficient legal basis for purchasing vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program from 2024.

Regarding imported vaccines, there are currently 3 types: polio vaccine, Rota virus vaccine and 5-in-1 vaccine. Except for Rota virus vaccine, the remaining 2 types use aid sources or centralized bidding according to current regulations, the Ministry of Health assesses that "there are no problems".

Rotavirus vaccines cannot currently be centrally bid at the national level. Therefore, the Ministry of Health proposes a procurement plan based on price negotiation for imported vaccines and ordering domestically produced vaccines, after fully informing the information and declared prices for localities to choose and register their needs./.