Many localities lack the expanded vaccination vaccine

Ho Chi Minh City and many other provinces and cities run out of free vaccines to inject children due to new regulations, local authorities have to buy them themselves while previously the Ministry of Health distributed them.

On May 16, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that vaccination facilities in the area have completely run out of DPT-VGB-HiB and DPT vaccines for free injection.

Accordingly, the DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine (5-in-1 vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, Hib pneumonia and Hib pyogenic meningitis) was last issued in October/ 2022, has expired since the beginning of March.

As for the DPT vaccine (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccine, which was last issued in February, it ended in early May. These are vaccines provided by the Expanded Immunization Program, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. , the Ministry of Health provides periodically with the number of registration bases on the vaccination needs of each locality.

Each month, Ho Chi Minh City needs 5,000-11,000 doses of each of the above vaccines to give free vaccinations to children. According to a representative of the Department of Health, other vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program are only available in very limited quantities and are expected to run out in the next few months if not provided more. Specifically, from the end of May to September, the city will run out of vaccines for hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, tuberculosis (BCG), polio (bOPV), measles, tetanus (VAT), measles, and tetanus. rubella (MR).

In Hanoi, Mr. Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), also said that there is a shortage of vaccines for immunization in the expanded program for children. "This is the general situation of all provinces, because so far there has been only one supply from the Ministry of Health," Mr. Tuan said, but did not specify the number of vaccines lacking.

The provinces of Tien Giang, An Giang, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, Binh Duong... also have a similar situation. Half this year, Ha Giang has no DPT-VGB-HiB vaccine to inject, and the DPT vaccine has been exhausted in the past two months.

"The people of the city have money to go to the vaccine service, while the ethnic minorities, in the highlands, can only wait for the supply," said CDC leader Ha Giang.

Why is there a shortage of free vaccines?

In recent years, from the central budget arranged by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health procured vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program. After that, vaccines are distributed to localities to organize free vaccinations for children. However, the vaccine supply disruption occurred last summer. The reason is due to some procedures on procurement regulations, which are related to price. Vaccine manufacturers said that "vaccines are available in stock, but cannot be shipped for vaccination".

The shortage became serious when, according to new regulations, from 2023, the Ministry of Finance did not allocate budget for the purchase of the Ministry of Health, requesting to comply with regulations on budget decentralization. That is, the locality will buy the expanded vaccination vaccine to serve the needs of the province.

In this context, localities complained that it was difficult because they had not deployed it yet, could not find a supply, and were also worried about the difference in the purchase price. Many provinces and cities have proposed the plan that the Ministry of Health should continue to stand out for shopping, the purchase money will be paid by the locality.

However, the Ministry of Health said that this is not feasible, asking the Department of Health to determine the demand, make a supply plan, report to the local People's Committee to arrange funding and organize procurement, so as not to lack medicine. vaccines.

During the meeting on May 11, Government leaders asked the Ministry of Health to continue bidding and remove the lack of vaccines. A day later, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology sent an express dispatch requesting localities to register their need for vaccines under the expanded vaccination program. "Thus, it can be understood that the bidding and procurement of vaccines is still presided over by the Ministry of Health," said a vaccination expert.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Dien, Director of Quang Ninh Department of Health, said that the province has sent registration of vaccine demand to the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Accordingly, this locality registers the number of vaccines for 2023 and plans to add another 6 months of 2024. "The Ministry of Health will purchase the vaccine, then the locality will transfer the payment," Mr. Dien said.

The leaders of the Health Departments of Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Giang also said they had sent the vaccine for the Expanded Immunization Program in the remaining months of 2023 and stored in the first 6 months of 2024 to be supplied as before.

Expanded Immunization is a free, national immunization program that protects children from some common and fatal infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, hepatitis, and hepatitis. B, measles, Japanese encephalitis, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, Hib meningitis.

When there is no vaccine for expanded immunization, people seek expensive injection services. Others have to wait, risk of disease due to not being vaccinated on time. On the other hand, when immunity from vaccines weakens, the risk of a large-scale disease outbreak occurs, threatening the health system as well as people's lives.

Currently, the Ministry of Health has not responded to the shortage of vaccines as well as the vaccine procurement plan for the upcoming expanded vaccination program.

* SOURCE: https://vnexpress.net/nhieu-dia-phuong-thieu-vaccine-tiem-chung-mo-rong-4606314.html