More than 1 million children under the age of one will be administered a vaccine

Hanoi (VNA) -- More than 1 million children under the age of one will be
administered a vaccine to protect against five diseases (diphtheria, pertussis,
tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B), under the National
Expanded Programme for Immunisation.

"With the new vaccine, children will only have to receive one shot instead of
three to protect them against five diseases. This will reduce costs, time and
human resources," said director of the programme Nguyen Tran Hien.

The haemophilus influenza type B vaccine is the 11th in a series of regular
vaccines provided by the programme that will be administered free of charge to
children across the country.

In 2008, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation contributed 36 million
USD of funding to help Vietnam bring the new vaccine into the programme over
2010 and 2011.

Hien said that each child would be given three shots, the total required for the
vaccine to be effective, and that 4.5 million doses of the vaccine would be
administered every year.

Statistics from the programme show that full vaccination rates for children under
one year of age reached 95 percent in 2009.-Enditem