Vietnam-made measles-rubella vaccine put into mass use

• Largest vaccination center in Ho Chi Minh City opens
• Vietnam successfully produces measles-rubella vaccine

The vaccine is for children between 18 and 24 months of age, and replaces imported vaccines from India. An NEVP representative said that, by April, 50,000 children in 19 provinces had been injected with the Vietnamese measles-rubella vaccine.

Vietnam-made measles-rubella vaccine put into mass use.

According to Assoc. Prof. Duong Thi Hong, Deputy Head of the Executive Board for the National Expanded Vaccination Programme, the safety of the combined vaccine produced by Vietnam has been confirmed at regular local immunization sites with no severe reactions being recorded following the injections.

The results show the same safety profile as the previous measles-rubella vaccine used during the 2014 - 2016 period. The vaccine was given to 7,000 children in Ha Nam, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa and Đak Nong provinces in March 2018, according to VTV.

Vietnam has successfully produced a combined measles-rubella vaccine as part of a project with co-operation from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) since 2016.

Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Head of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine, said that using the made-in-Vietnam MR vaccine will help to reduce the import costs for this injection.

Currently, measles is at risk of an outbreak, while rubella, which does not cause severe clinical diseases except a rash, causes birth defects, especially in pregnant mothers who suffer from rubella. For that reason, the rubella vaccination addresses these two problems, Dr. Phu affirmed, reported the NDO.