According to the Ministry of Health, from 2023, according to the provisions of the State Budget Law, localities will purchase vaccines from their local budgets. However, during the implementation process, localities have encountered difficulties in arranging, approving funding, bidding, etc. Therefore, many localities have requested the Ministry of Health to continue to act as the focal point for purchasing vaccines and allocating them to localities.
To overcome the above situation, the Government has submitted to the National Assembly a Resolution, in which it directs the allocation of the central budget to continue implementing the expanded vaccination program, ensuring consistency, timeliness and effectiveness nationwide.
Since then, the Government has issued a Resolution on allocating the central budget in 2023 to the Ministry of Health to purchase vaccines and assigned the Ministry of Health to submit to the Government a Decree amending Decree 104/2016/ND-CP.
After completing the process and finalizing the draft, on February 5, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 13/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 104/2016/ND-CP regulating vaccination activities.
According to the Ministry of Health, the annual expanded immunization plan is a synthesis of local demand registrations. Since December 2023, the Ministry of Health (National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology) has instructed provinces and cities to review and determine vaccine needs in the Department of Preventive Medicine for the last 6 months of 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025.
In 2024, the Ministry of Health has not allocated funds for expanded immunization activities from the beginning of the year as in the 2016-2022 period.
After Decree No. 13/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 104/2016/ND-CP was issued, in April 2024, the Ministry of Health sent a document to the Ministry of Finance proposing funding needs to implement expanded immunization activities in 2024.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health has also issued a decision on the expanded vaccination plan. The Ministry of Health affirmed that the issuance of this plan for 2024 in early June 2024 and during the funding approval period is timely.
While waiting for approval of the 2024 budget, the Ministry of Health has directed relevant units to purchase vaccines that need to be immediately supplied to the program, including tetanus vaccine and hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.
Previously, a report by the National Assembly Standing Committee said that voters in many localities reported a lack of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program at public health facilities, resulting in many children not being vaccinated on schedule, not getting enough doses, and being at high risk of infection.
Through monitoring, it is shown that by February 5, 2024, Decree No. 13/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 104/2016/ND-CP of the Government regulating vaccination activities was issued.
It was not until June 2024 that the Ministry of Health issued the 2024 expanded vaccination plan, too late for localities to implement it.
According to the report, in many localities, vaccine shortages have occurred since the end of 2022, and this situation is still occurring as of September 2024.
