Vietnam will be the country producing the most vaccines in the world.

The head of the WHO expert team affirmed: "In the next 20-30 years, Vietnam will be one of the countries producing the most vaccines in the world."

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health solemnly held the "Ceremony to recognize Vietnam's National Vaccine Management System as meeting international standards of the World Health Organization" on the evening of June 22 in Hanoi.

Vietnam can produce 10/12 types of vaccines

Thus, after 14 years of preparation, Vietnam has officially become the 39th member recognized by WHO as meeting the standards of a national vaccine management agency out of a total of 43 vaccine-producing countries in the world.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam speaks at the ceremony to recognize Vietnam's National Vaccine Management System as meeting international standards according to the assessment and recognition of the World Health Organization.

At the recognition ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized: “We are very proud, if you see, most of the evaluation criteria of world organizations on economic and social aspects of Vietnam are usually from 70-90 among countries, the fact that Vietnam is one of 39 countries recognized to meet NRA standards is very meaningful. It not only demonstrates the serious work of the entire management system of the health sector but also the efforts of many scientists, the results have been shown through the fact that we have self-produced 10/12 types of vaccines in the expanded immunization program. These are: tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis B, cholera, typhoid, diarrhea”.

The fact that the National Vaccine Regulatory Authority (NRA) has been assessed and recognized by WHO as meeting international standards is a proud achievement for the Vietnamese Ministry of Health. To achieve this, Vietnam has prepared very carefully for a long time, and started to accelerate nearly 2 years ago. Over the past year, the Ministry of Health has invited 30 experts from WHO and international organizations to Vietnam to support the capacity building of the national vaccine regulatory agency to meet this important standard. To ensure the quality and safety of vaccine products, Vietnam has synchronously deployed the contents according to the WHO's standard toolkit for assessing the capacity of the national vaccine regulatory agency.

The criteria in the toolkit aim to guide countries in self-assessing their performance in regulatory functions towards the ultimate goal of producing vaccines that are safe and of quality according to internationally agreed standards.

Opening the door to exporting “Made in Vietnam” vaccines

Vaccines are an effective weapon to protect people from dangerous epidemics. On average, each year, about 3 million people in the world are saved thanks to vaccination. Vaccines are a special type of medicine that greatly contributes to repelling diseases and reducing human mortality rates, reducing health care costs, and improving public health.

Over the years, Vietnam has continuously improved its national vaccination system to prevent dangerous epidemics. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, there are currently nearly 30 infectious diseases that can be prevented by vaccines.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien received the Certificate of Vietnam's National Vaccine Management System meeting international standards from a WHO representative.

With the NRA certification, Vietnam is facing a great opportunity to develop the vaccine industry. Instead of only serving the domestic market, which is mainly about 1.7 million newborns every year, domestic vaccine manufacturers now have the opportunity to improve their capacity, produce vaccines to export products around the world, especially for national expanded immunization programs that need affordable vaccine sources and ensure quality and safety. At the same time, with this achievement, countries will also be more interested in investing in vaccine production in Vietnam. Because, one of the prerequisites for exporting vaccines is not only a qualified factory, but also a national vaccine management system that must meet WHO standards.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien affirmed: “This is considered an important step forward for the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, opening the door to exporting “Made in Vietnam” vaccines to the world, contributing to providing vaccines to prevent and fight epidemics for the region and the world.”

Mr. Lahouari Belgharbi, Head of the WHO expert team, affirmed: “Up to this point, Vietnam is one of 39 countries in the world that has been recognized as an NRA according to WHO standards and international standards. With Vietnam's capacity in vaccine quality management system, team of scientists and appropriate investment and development strategy, in the next 20-30 years, Vietnam will be one of the countries that produce the most vaccines in the world.”

According to Mr. Lahouari Belgharbi, after the NRA meets WHO standards, vaccines produced in Vietnam will be eligible for pre-appraisal before export. In the near future, WHO will invite Vietnamese experts to participate in a delegation to assess the capacity of the national vaccine management system of some countries such as Russia and Australia.

Vietnam has hope to develop vaccine industry

By achieving NRA, Vietnam is one of 39 countries producing vaccines that are qualified for export. Currently, Vietnam has 4 vaccine factories with modern equipment, production lines and technology that meet WHO's good manufacturing practice standards. The use of vaccines produced in Vietnam in the expanded immunization program has been saving the state thousands of billions of VND because it does not have to import vaccines. In addition, Vietnamese vaccine manufacturers have built enough to supply domestic demand and meet export demand. Up to now, Vietnam has begun to export a number of vaccines such as: Japanese encephalitis, measles, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and cholera...

Talking about the new opportunities of Vietnam's vaccine production industry, Dr. Truong Quoc Cuong, Director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health), in the WHO assessment team's report, stated that Vietnam has great potential for vaccine production. WHO ranks Vietnam as one of the 25 vaccine-producing countries, accounting for 90% of global sales, with a team of vaccine research and production staff that meets international standards.

Considered an industry with high surplus value, the vaccine manufacturing industry brings in large revenues for countries that strongly develop this industry. According to a report by author Alison (published in the journal of the Drug Administration, Ministry of Health - PV), 10 years ago (2002), the global vaccine market reached 5.7 billion USD/year, by 2012 it had increased to 27 billion USD, the average growth rate is expected to be 10.3% by 2015, in which the sales of some vaccines in the top 10 are PENTACT - HIB vaccine of Sanofi Company with sales of 1.3 billion USD/year; Pediarix (preventing diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, polio) of GSK Company is over 1 billion USD/year; vaccine to prevent hepatitis A, hepatitis B of GSK is 1 billion USD...

According to VOV.VN