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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) |
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha asked at a working session with leaders of some ministries, sectors, and localities on the purchase of vaccines for children within the expanded immunization program, held on June 10.
He made the order amid a number of emerging problems in vaccine purchasing activities.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the ministry was assigned to buy and allocate vaccines to localities within the target program for the medical-population program for the 2016-2020 period.
After this program ended in 2020, the ministry received a budget from the central budget for the work to ensure vaccines for 2021 and 2022.
She said that the ministry hopes to be allowed to continue the vaccine purchase for the expanded immunization program as it is an effective scheme with significant importance in ensuring social welfare for women and children.
She said that recently, the ministry has worked with a number of ministries, sectors, and localities on measures in purchasing, bidding, and negotiating for prices of a number of kinds of vaccines.
Meanwhile, Vice Director of the HCMC Department of Health Nguyen Anh Dung pointed to a number of legal obstacles in the work. He said that all vaccines in the expanded immunization program are on the list of drugs for national centralized bidding, so there is no mechanism for self-biding in localities.
Dung suggested that central agencies provide a budget to the Ministry of Health for bidding activities and allow it to allocate vaccines.
Agreeing with Dung, Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha said that to date, the capital city has run out of some vaccines in the expanded immunization program, but there is no mechanism for the city to buy vaccines by itself.
Vice Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Duong Thi Hong said that so far, nine out of the 11 kinds of vaccines for the expanded immunization program have run out.
Addressing the working session, Deputy PM Ha asked the Ministry of Health to focus on settling the problems in buying vaccines for the program.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked to work with manufacturers, international organizations, and countries to seek more supplies of vaccines for the program.
The Deputy PM requested the Ministry of Health to immediately issue guidance on disease prevention and diagnostic and treatment protocols for medical facilities when children contract diseases.
