VGP – Research done to manufacture the Rotavin-M1 vaccine has been successful, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Viet Nam has become the fourth country in the world and the second in Southeast Asia to be able to produce an anti-diarrhea vaccine for children, said Le Thi Luan, Deputy Director of the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals, under the MoH.
The project, which began in 1998, focused on the creation of the Rota virus for the purpose of developing a vaccine and designing a production process.
The quality of the vaccine is equivalent to Belgium’s Rotarix vaccine and would cost only one-third (around US$9).
The vaccine has been evaluated by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and approved for use by the National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals.
The MoH granted a product license for the vaccine to be sold in the domestic market last May. So far some 100,000 children in 60 localities have received the vaccine.
If it is used in the national vaccination program, the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals can supply about 4.5 million of doses per year, she said.
In Viet Nam, more than 50% of children under five years old suffer from the disease each year, according to MoH statistics. About 5,300-6,800 children under five years are estimated to die of the disease each year.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
