A campaign to vaccinate 23 million children aged 1 to 14 against measles and rubella will kick off in September at a cost of over $36 million, the largest ever of its kind in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health has said. The information was released by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, chairman of the National Extended Vaccination Program, at a meeting held by the ministry on July 18 to discuss preparations for the campaign. The mass vaccination drive will be funded by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, a public-private global health partnership, said Dr. Hien, who is also director of the Hanoi-based Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. The campaign will be the largest so far against the two above diseases in Vietnam, the official said. It will start first in September in four provinces: Vinh Phuc in the north, Thua Thien-Hue in the central region, Dak Lak in the Central Highlands, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau in the southern part, Dr. Hien said. The campaign’s organization board will draw experience from the vaccination in these four localities before implementing it nationwide in October, the chairman said. In the first six months of 2014, 146 children died of measles and complications from measles, the Ministry of Health reported. Measles has spread globally this year, affecting 171 out of the 194 countries in the world, said Tran Dac Phu, head of the ministry’s Preventive Health Department. Although it is a benign disease, measles can cause serious complications that may lead to death, health experts have warned. It can spread rapidly and 90% of children who have contact with measles-suffering peers may catch the measles virus, Dr. Pham Nhat An, deputy director of the Hanoi-based Central Pediatrics Hospital, said. Dr. An added that even adults can develop measles if their immune system fails to resist the virus. Meanwhile, rubella is an acute, contagious viral infection. The rubella virus is transmitted by airborne droplets when infected people sneeze or cough, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. While the illness is generally mild in children, it has serious consequences in pregnant women causing fetal death or congenital defects known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), the WHO said. Children with CRS can suffer hearing impairments, eye and heart defects and other lifelong disabilities, including autism, diabetes mellitus and thyroid dysfunction. There are about 110,000 children born with CRS, according to an estimate by the WHO. In Vietnam, 3,500 CRS cases were recorded in the 2004-2011 period, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology reported. (Tuoitrenews.vn July 20)
