This was among activities hosted by the ministry to raise public awareness about the importance of immunisation, and encourage further participation from authorities at all levels, as well as organisations at home and abroad, in improving vaccination delivery services, particularly in remote and mountainous areas and sea and island regions.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stressed that vaccinations are an effective method of preventing infectious diseases and have been widely used around the world.
Every year, an estimated 115 million infants worldwide are vaccinated, contributing to preventing, controlling or eliminating many dangerous infectious diseases, he said, adding that the global Expanded Programme on Immunisation is estimated to prevent between 2 and 3 million deaths each year.
For that reason, vaccinations are considered one of the most successful and cost-effective medical interventions, protecting children’s health while contributing to forming a generation with full physical health.
The official reported that since it was first implemented in Vietnam in 1985, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation has delivered hundreds of millions doses of vaccines for free to children and women to prevent dangerous infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, hepatitis B, cholera, typhoid, and rubella among others.
However, 3-5% of children below one year old are yet to be fully vaccinated while an estimated 5-10% of districts, mostly in remote and mountainous areas, fail to achieve inoculation goals.
He called on authorities at all levels to make more investments in immunisation services and to work with the health sector to bring the service to every child in the country.
He also hoped to receive more support from international organisations in implementing the national expanded immunisation programme in Vietnam.
The Immunisation Week, launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2011, is observed annually in the last week of April. A total of 180 countries and territories worldwide have responded to the event.
This year’s event is hosted by the WHO in the West Pacific Ocean Region to stress the need for immunisation among adolescents and adults throughout life and seek to draw the world’s attention to the critical importance of reaching vulnerable people living in conflict situations and in the wake of emergencies.
