Geneva (VNA) – Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Health Nguyên Thi Liên Huong held a meeting with Gavi Program Director Aurelia Nguyen to discuss current and future support to Vietnam within the framework of the Gavi strategy. Vaccine Alliance to support middle-income countries during 2021-2025 and 2026-2030.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva. Ambassador Mai Phan Dung, Vietnam’s permanent representative to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and other international organizations in Geneva, was also present.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (formerly GAVI for Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), announced its readiness to continue supporting Vietnam in deploying the two new vaccines against pneumococcus and HPV.
Nguyên Thi Liên Huong highly appreciated the contributions of GAVI and Aurelia Nguyen to the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Vietnam.
She noted that the Ministry of Health will soon complete procedures to receive support from Gavi for rotavirus vaccine, which will be used together with the locally manufactured Rotavin vaccine to vaccinate children under one year of age in the fourth quarter of 2024 .
The Deputy Minister added that under her instructions, the EPI in Vietnam is working on a file proposing Gavi’s assistance to deploy the pneumococcal vaccine for children under one year old and the cervical cancer vaccine. uterus for 11 year old girls. The proposal will be sent to Gavi in September.
Nguyên Thi Liên Huong proposed that Gavi help Vietnam deploy new vaccines under the EPI over the next three years.
She also called on the organization to continue helping the country improve the quality and rate of vaccination despite the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to ensure sustainability and maintain the results of vaccination in Vietnam .
In addition to support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other countries’ governments, Gavi has provided considerable assistance to EPI in Vietnam for over 20 years .
Gavi has helped the country with vaccine safety, the deployment of hepatitis B vaccine in newborns, the prevention and control of measles, and especially the deployment of new vaccines for EPI, such as those against five dangerous infectious diseases, injectable polio vaccine and rotavirus vaccine, thereby significantly contributing to changing the structure of childhood diseases in Vietnam. – VNA
