Public concerns have been raised after several child deaths related to a five-in-one vaccine in recent months.
Several children experienced serious allergies to the Quinvaxem five-in-one vaccine
From November 2012 through to March 2013, over ten children have experienced serious allergies to the Quinvaxem five-in-one vaccine, seven of whom have died.
Late last year, the Ministry of Health conducted an inspection and concluded that all the child fatalities were not related to the vaccine. This means that Quinvaxem will continue to be used in the country.
The truth was not uncovered after several more children then continued to have allergies after being vaccinated with the vaccine.
Nguyen Van Binh, Director of the ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department, said the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) funded a project on Quinvaxem vaccination worth USD38.5 million for Vietnam by 2015.
The vaccine has been included in Vietnam’s national open vaccination programme for children age between two to four months since June 2010.
Over the past two years, Vietnam has imported nearly 15 million doses of such vaccine and has used over 11 million doses.
“We’re compelled to continue to use cheap vaccines, at nearly VND100,000 (USD4.77) per dose, despite the dangers to kids as we’re afraid that GAVI wouldn’t continue to fund other vaccination projects such as Rubella and Rotavirus in the near future if we cancel using their funded Quinvaxem,” Binh admitted.
Even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended using Quinvaxem vaccine which is used in 90 countries in the world, South Korea has halted using it after medical experts warned about potential dangers including allergies to children.
WHO reports said that Quinvaxem vaccine produced in India had caused several child deaths in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Pakistan.
Associate Prof cum Dr Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of the Central Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute, said no vaccine is absolutely safe. The Quinvaxem vaccine-related allergy rate in Vietnam is rather high at 0.69 per one million doses with the fatality rate of 0.17 per one million doses.
However, recent incidents indicate the fatality rate is much higher than the estimates.
