Vietnam produces country's first measles-rubella vaccine

By Phuong Trang   November 8, 2016 | 07:37 pm PT
This means Vietnam is now in a group of 25 countries worldwide that can produce the vaccine and the fourth in Asia.

Vietnam's Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that it has successfully produced a measles-rubella vaccine for the first time. 

This means Vietnam is now in a group of 25 countries worldwide that can produce the vaccine and the fourth in Asia after Japan, India and China.

vietnam-produces-countrys-first-measles-rubella-vaccine

Chemists in the process of producing Vietnam's first measles-rubella vaccine. Photo courtesy of the government online portal.

Vietnamese children are expected to receive the vaccine free of charge from 2017 under the National Expanded Program on Immunization.

The vaccine, produced with Japanese technology, has been tested on 756 healthy people aged 1 to 45 in the northern provinces of Ha Nam and Hoa Binh, and has met safety requirements.

Duong Thi Hong, deputy director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that around 1.5 million Vietnamese children are given free measles-rubella vaccines produced in India each year. 

The country is aiming to eliminate measles in 2017 and put an end to rubella.

Related news:

Ho Chi Minh City confirms 9 more Zika cases, raises Vietnam’s total to 39

 
 
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