The General Department of Preventive Medicine has urged parents to be sure their children have a total of four diptheria vaccine shots taken at the proper times. 

After Tết (Vietnamese New Year) Holiday, medical facilities offering vaccination services in the central city of Đà Nẵng have received a huge influx of parents and infants, worrying about severe complications from the ComBE Five vaccine used in the national expanded immunisation programme (EIP).

The number of people hospitalised in HCM City with contagious diseases this year has increased compared with the same period a year ago, according to the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) will continue to use the ComBE Five vaccine in a national expanded immunisation programme (EIP), a senior official said.

All 19 children under supervision at the Hải Phòng Paediatrics Hospital after receiving the Combe Five vaccine were discharged from hospital in a stable condition, said Phạm Văn Dương, deputy director of the hospital.

Six children were admitted to Điện Biên Province General Hospital on Sunday suffering side effects of the ComBE Five vaccine, three of them had serious reactions.

ComBE Five vaccine will be used nationwide to replace Quinvaxem from late December after it was tested in seven provinces, the Ministry of Health announced on December 18.

The pentavalent vaccine ComBe Five will be included in the national expanded immunisation programme by the end of this month, replacing the Korean-made Quinvaxem, according to the National Institute of Hygiene Epidemiology.

Many district preventive health centres and ward and commune health stations in HCM City have run out of Quinvaxem vaccine for infants against five common, potentially fatal diseases.

The Indian-made ComBE Five vaccine will be used in a national expanded immunisation programme, replacing the Quinvaxem vaccine as of next month instead of this month as previously planned.