At the signing ceremony on February 18, the VNVC Vaccination Center System and Substipharm Biologics agreed on the goal and efforts to act for public health, soon bringing to Vietnam more high-quality and safe vaccines, especially importantly the vaccine to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease caused by Enterovirus 71 (EV71).
This is the virus that causes the most serious hand, foot and mouth disease. Recently, major hand, foot and mouth disease epidemics in Vietnam have been related to EV71. The most recent major outbreak in 2023 had more than 180,000 children, many of whom had complications, had to use a ventilator, blood filtration and 31 deaths.
Substipharm Biologics is a vaccine and biological company under the French Substipharm Group with 30 years of operation globally, specializing in developing, supplying and distributing drugs in more than 80 countries with a portfolio of more than 90 high-quality pharmaceutical and vaccine products. In the world, Substipharm is currently the owner of the Imojev vaccine against Japanese encephalitis, bought from Sanofi (France). This vaccine has been brought to Vietnam by VNVC and Sanofi since 2019, and is now widely distributed, helping to protect the health of millions of children and adults in Vietnam like other countries in the world.
Substipharm Biologics has made efforts to prioritize the implementation of hand, foot and mouth disease vaccines to Vietnam, one of the countries with serious epidemics for this disease.
The hand, foot and mouth disease vaccine is recommended for children from 2 months to under 6 years old. The results of the study published in the world's leading prestigious medical journal The Lancet show that the vaccine is safe and has a high protection effect of up to 96.8%, maintaining long-term immunity to help fight hand, foot and mouth disease caused by the recently issued EV71 sub-group at any severity. The vaccine to prevent foot, hand and mouth disease is produced with modern technology.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Herve Profit, Senior Director, Substipharm Biologics Company, said that the cooperation with VNVC is an important step forward for Substipharm Biologics to expand the opportunity to bring to Vietnam more high-quality vaccines to protect people's health with increasing demand for quality and safety.
We hope to soon bring the hand, foot and mouth disease vaccine to Vietnam to help protect children, reduce dangerous complications caused by the disease and bring positive changes in the fight against hand, foot and mouth disease, which causes many burdens to children's health every year, and is also a burden for families and society, Mr. Herve Profit shared.
Appreciating the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Substipharm Biologics, Mr. Ngo Chi Dung, Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of the VNVC Vaccination Center System, said that this signing event can be considered an important milestone in the efforts of the parties to soon bring a new vaccine to Vietnam, which is very necessary to prevent dangerous diseases that have been practiced for many years in Vietnam, with a very high risk of causing death for children.
"Oral and foot-and-mouth disease is a disease that currently has no specific treatment, causing great pressure on the health system, so both sides hope to have adequate supply to ensure rapid and widespread vaccination for children, timely disease prevention", said Mr. Ngo Chi Dung.
According to one study, the total cost of hand, foot and mouth disease in Vietnam is up to 90.7 million USD per year. The estimated total cost for a hand, foot and mouth disease treatment in Vietnam in 2016 2017 was 400 USD, while a severe case cost about 1,400 USD.
Doctor Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of the VNVC Vaccination System, said that the disease is easily spread when directly exposed to nasal discharge, phlegm, throat, saliva and emulsion or indirect contact with the secretion and secretion of patients on household items, toys, desks, chairs, home foundation... Children under 5 years old have an incomplete immune system, so they are more susceptible to the disease than children and adults. kindergartens and kindergartens are places at high risk of infection and development of outbreaks.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by two common groups of pathogens: Coxsackie virus A16 (CA16) and Enterovirus 71 (EV71). Cases of CA16 infection often show mild symptoms and can be cared for and treated at home. Meanwhile, EV71 causes more serious illness with many dangerous complications such as encephalitis, meningitis, myocarditis, pneumonia, edema, respiratory failure, and circulatory failure, which can lead to death if not treated promptly. The risk of severe illness due to EV71 increases 16 times compared to infection with other hand, foot and mouth virus strains.
VNVC is the leading vaccination center system in Vietnam with nearly 220 centers across provinces and cities. The system provides a full range of nearly 50 vaccines to prevent nearly 50 infectious diseases for children and adults. In 2024 alone, VNVC has worked with the world's leading vaccine and pharmaceutical companies to import 4 types of vaccines to prevent diseases such as new generation B brain stem, pla Encephalitis 23, dengue fever and shingles, and deploy vaccination for children and adults at hundreds of VNVC centers nationwide.
