VietNamNet Bridge – The vaccine Quinvaxem "5 in 1" has been removed from circulation in many areas in Ha Noi, Deputy Director of the municipal Preventive Medicine Centre Nguyen Nhat Cam said on Monday.

A healthcare worker vaccinates a baby. In Ha Noi, the vaccine Quinvaxen 5-in-1 has been removed from circulation in many areas over fears about its safety.

The decision was released after a three-month-old boy from Gia Lam District died after receiving the vaccine, which prevents diphtheria, whooping-cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and meningitis.

Samples of the vaccine given to the boy were sent to the National Institute for Testing Vaccines, said Cam.

About 55,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in other districts in the city as well as in other provinces and cities, but no fatalities or complications were previously reported, according to the centre.

In Gia Lam District alone, more than 1,600 doses of the vaccine were given without complications.

Meanwhile, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Nguyen Tran Hien told local media that tests of the vaccines given to three children in the central province of Nghe An revealed that the vaccine was not the cause for the children's death.

According to the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Bio-products, he said, the Quinvaxem "5 in 1" vaccine, produced in South Korea, met the safety requirements of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Ministry of Health has sent a document to the WHO proposing to send the vaccine sample to an international vaccine testing agency.

Hien said that health experts are particularly worried about the ingredient preventing whooping-cough.

The Quinvaxem vaccine uses the body of whooping-cough bacteria, so it can cause shock, while newer vaccines use more refined versions of the bacteria, he said.

"However, before using the vaccine, the Health Ministry deemed the complications rate acceptable under WHO regulations," Hien said.

Moreover, the vaccine's price is suitable to the country's economic conditions. It costs about VND20,000 (US$0.95) a dose, while vaccines made by the US and Belgium cost about VND500,000-600,000 ($23-28) a dose.

"To limit complications, families should inform medical workers about their children's condition before the vaccination.

If the children were born prematurely or have shown any abnormal symptoms in the three days before the vaccination, medical workers need to be made aware," he added.

The Quinvaxem "5 in 1" vaccine has been used in the national vaccination programme since 2010. Every year the country administers 4.5-5 million doses of the vaccine to children between two and four months old.

Source: VNS