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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Vietnam reconsiders H1N1 vaccine import plan
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>By Hien Nguyen - The Saigon Times Daily </TD></TR><TR><TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-BOTTOM: gray 1px dotted" colSpan=2>Wednesday, January 13,2010,14:09 (GMT+7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
HCMC ? The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that Vietnam would reconsider importing H1N1 vaccine following criticism of the World Health Organization?s handling of the swine flu pandemic which vaccine producers might have profiteered from.
Deputy Minister Trinh Quan Huan told the Daily on the phone that the ministry was examining the safety of vaccine donated by WHO. Vietnam will only receive the vaccine upon proven safety. In the ministry?s plan, Vietnam will receive 1.2 million doses of H1N1 vaccine as donations from WHO, and will import another 500,000 doses for inoculation in this first quarter.
According to Huan, Vietnam has sufficient Tamiflu at the moment, and with 1.2 million vaccine doses from WHO, there will be enough medicines for the country to fight the H1N1 strain of flu. Therefore, the country needs to re-consider the import plan.
?It turns out to be unnecessary to import vaccine quickly now. However, vaccine examination and inoculation is being carried out as scheduled. At least 700,000 people are to get vaccine,? he said.
In case the vaccine import is put on hold, Huan said, the Ministry of Health will ask for instructions from the Government.
Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the ministry?s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department, told the Vietnam News Agency that there is no need to import vaccine hastily given sufficient supplies of medicines for coping with the disease.
Some governments have begun to cut H1N1 vaccine orders as the pandemic has not turned out to be as deadly as originally feared, Reuters reports.
As for criticism of WHO, Huan said his ministry had written to the organization on Tuesday asking for clarification. In the letter, the ministry requested WHO elaborate on its stance on the issue and give detailed guidelines as to how to use the vaccine.
Huan said Vietnam had been doing the right things in terms of swine flu prevention and control, and the disease had been put under control.
The ministry reported that Vietnam had had 12,000 H1N1confirmed cases since the first case was detected on May 30 last year and that at least 53 people had been killed by the disease.
http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/lifestyle/healthcare/8333/
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>By Hien Nguyen - The Saigon Times Daily </TD></TR><TR><TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-BOTTOM: gray 1px dotted" colSpan=2>Wednesday, January 13,2010,14:09 (GMT+7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
HCMC ? The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that Vietnam would reconsider importing H1N1 vaccine following criticism of the World Health Organization?s handling of the swine flu pandemic which vaccine producers might have profiteered from.
Deputy Minister Trinh Quan Huan told the Daily on the phone that the ministry was examining the safety of vaccine donated by WHO. Vietnam will only receive the vaccine upon proven safety. In the ministry?s plan, Vietnam will receive 1.2 million doses of H1N1 vaccine as donations from WHO, and will import another 500,000 doses for inoculation in this first quarter.
According to Huan, Vietnam has sufficient Tamiflu at the moment, and with 1.2 million vaccine doses from WHO, there will be enough medicines for the country to fight the H1N1 strain of flu. Therefore, the country needs to re-consider the import plan.
?It turns out to be unnecessary to import vaccine quickly now. However, vaccine examination and inoculation is being carried out as scheduled. At least 700,000 people are to get vaccine,? he said.
In case the vaccine import is put on hold, Huan said, the Ministry of Health will ask for instructions from the Government.
Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the ministry?s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department, told the Vietnam News Agency that there is no need to import vaccine hastily given sufficient supplies of medicines for coping with the disease.
Some governments have begun to cut H1N1 vaccine orders as the pandemic has not turned out to be as deadly as originally feared, Reuters reports.
As for criticism of WHO, Huan said his ministry had written to the organization on Tuesday asking for clarification. In the letter, the ministry requested WHO elaborate on its stance on the issue and give detailed guidelines as to how to use the vaccine.
Huan said Vietnam had been doing the right things in terms of swine flu prevention and control, and the disease had been put under control.
The ministry reported that Vietnam had had 12,000 H1N1confirmed cases since the first case was detected on May 30 last year and that at least 53 people had been killed by the disease.
http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/lifestyle/healthcare/8333/