More than 1 million children under the
age of one will be administered a vaccine to protect against five
diseases (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus
influenza type B), under the National Expanded Programme for
Immunisation.
"With the new vaccine, children will
only have to receive one shot instead of three to protect them against
five diseases. This will reduce costs, time and human resources," said
director of the programme Nguyen Tran Hien.
The haemophilus influenza type B vaccine is the 11th in a series of
regular vaccines provided by the programme that will be administered
free of charge to children across the country.
In 2008, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation contributed
36 million USD of funding to help Vietnam bring the new vaccine into
the programme over 2010 and 2011.
Hien said that each child would be given three shots, the total
required for the vaccine to be effective, and that 4.5 million doses of
the vaccine would be administered every year.
Statistics from the programme show that full vaccination rates for children under one year of age reached 95 percent in 2009./.