Vietnam has successfully produced rubella vaccine with the support of the Japanese Government. In March 2018, it was used in the NEVP in four provinces and showed the same result with the vaccine used during 2014-2016. Thus, the made-in Vietnam vaccine will be used across the country for children of 18 months old and above in the NEVP.

To maintain achievement in polio eradication, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) for children of five months old will be used in the NEVP, starting August 2018, said the MoH.

Quinvaxem vaccine (a combination vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and hepatitis B for children under one year old), which was used in the NEVP for more than seven years, will be used nationwide until the end of May. A similar vaccine will be used in four provinces before being widely utilised nationwide from the end of the second quarter of 2018.

The MoH and relevant agencies are working on anti-measles vaccination for children from six months old in late 2018.

It also said women in the child-bearing age should get rubella vaccine to protect themselves as well as their children. Families were advised to have their children fully vaccinated to prevent the diseases.-VNA