Hanoi’s police ordered to ensure security during Tet

Minister of Public Security – General Tran Dai Quang has asked Hanoi’s police force to take measures to ensure security and order at public spaces, entertainment sites and festivals so that Hanoi residents can enjoy a sound Tet (traditional Lunar New Year festival).

The Minister made the order at a conference held in Hanoi on January 10 to review the force’s performance in 2015 and implement its tasks for 2016.

He noted that in 2016, the world and regional situations will see developments, which may cause instability, and unpredicted operations from criminals, particularly in transnational organised crime and high-tech criminals.

Meanwhile, the year also marks Vietnam’s wider and deeper integration into the world, the first year of implementing the 12th national Party Congress’s resolution for socio-economic development in the 2016-2020 period, the election of deputies for the 14th National Assembly.

The context has put heavy responsibility on Hanoi’s police and police sector in general, he stressed.

He asked Hanoi’s police to work to suppress criminals and gangs in the city while enhancing criminal investigations.

The force was requested to focus its operations to ensure the utmost safety for the 12th national Party congress, the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels, the Party and State’s leaders, and the country's important political events to be held in the capital city.

At the event, outstanding policemen were presented with certificates of merit for their excellent service in 2015.

Vietnamese Student Association in US Harvard University to launch summer program in HCMC

For the very first time, Vietnamese student association in the US Harvard University and its partners, Golden Academic will organize a summer program for high school students.

The program is scheduled to take place in June, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City with the participation of 15 students of the US Harvard university with different nationalities including the US, Korea and Vietnam.

The program aims to offer a useful playground for high school students on summer vacation and supply them more information of how to enroll in Harvard university as well as skills and knowledge of international integration.

The program will include a hypothetic class designed and lectured by Harvard students, talks with famous guests in many fields and exchanges of hot social subjects in Vietnam and in the world.

This is an opportunity for Vietnamese high school students to access and exchange study methods and living ways with foreign students.

The organizer will select 75 students who can understand lectures in English.

Cost of attendance is US$ 300 or VND8.000.000 covering accommodations, housing, transportation, and food. The organizer will  take the sum support needy students who are good at English but can not afford the fee. Senior high school students want to take part in the summer program by registering in the website: http://www.hviet.com/apply.html.

The deadline for registering the first round is January 30, 2016.

Cai luong to raise money for artists

Dozens of cai luong (reformed theatre) artists will perform at HCM City's Opera House for an ongoing programme to raise funds for poor theatre artists for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

The two-hour concert, Nghe Si Tri Am (Performers Together), will feature veteran performers like Ut Bach Lan, Ngoc Giau, Thanh Dien and Thanh Kim Hue, together with their students, cai luong stars Huu Chau and Kim Tieu Long.

They will stage extracts from popular plays such as Ben Cau Det Lua (Weaving by the Bridge) and To Anh Nguyet (Ms ToAnh Nguyet), with performances of People's Artist Kim Cuong, who is also the event's organiser.

"Our art is for 160 poor theatre actors, especially older artists and backstage workers who have devoted their life to the art," said Cuong, 79, who began her career at an early age.

The show aims to encourage more organisations and individuals to contribute to charity, she explained.

"We will present people clothes, food, and money in cash worth VND4 million (US$190) each. We hope we will receive more support after the show," she said.

Last year, Cuong's show attracted more than 140 artists and raised VND1 billion ($45,000) for charity.

Cuong has performed in several hundred plays and recorded albums praising Vietnamese culture and lifestyle in both traditional and modern styles.

She began her professional career when she was 17 and later performed with talented actors such as Nam Phi and Phung Ha, who were students of her mother, Bay Nam, head of Dai Phuoc Cuong Troupe, one of the region's prestigious cai luong troupes.

In recent years, Cuong has been involved in charity. She is the deputy chairman of the HCM City Association in Support of Disabled People and Orphan Children.

The show Nghe Si Tri Am will open at 8pm on January 24.

Annual KOVA Prize honours outstanding researchers, students

An 85-year-old farmer with a fourth-grade education, as well as 25 individuals and three teams, including doctors at HCM City's Cho Ray Hospital, were honoured at the 13th annual KOVA Prize ceremony for their outstanding contributions to research and social welfare.

Farmer Dinh Cong Vien of the Red River Delta province of Ha Nam on Saturday was awarded the KOVA prize for his post-harvesting machine that removes kernels from corn and shells from soybeans.

Wanting to reduce the hard labour of his fellow farmers, Vien experimented making a machine several times, but failed many times.

After his final and successful attempt, Vien said that many farmers ordered the machine to save working time in their fields.

Vien began to farm his fields in 1985 after retiring as a commune-level official in Kim Bang District's Khuyen Cong Village.

He has now made nearly 300 post-harvesting machines to sell to farmers in the northern provinces and HCM City's Go Vap District.

"My machines can also be used as a thresher for peanuts and paddy," he said. "It sells for VND4 million, and can process four to five tonnes per hour."

Vien is now conducting research on other mini-machines that would transplant rice seedlings and harvest rice.

The KOVA Prize also honoured 25 other individuals and three groups for their outstanding contributions to scientific research and social welfare.

One hundred scholarships were presented to public university students who have financial difficulties and excellent marks.

Dr Pham Van Phuc, deputy head of Lab of Stem Cell Research and Application under the HCM City University of Science, received an award for an adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) extraction kit and a new platelet rich plasma (PRP) pro kit for treatment of 50 diseases.

The Ministry of Health allows the use of the kits in treating injured cartilage and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A group of doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City was also awarded this honourable prize for their programme on effective management of antibiotic use at the hospital.

Antibiotic use has been reduced by 57.8 per cent compared to the past at the hospital, and the number of days and costs for treatment has fallen, according to the hospital.

The programme will be used by another 60 hospitals in 20 provinces and cities.

At the ceremony, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, who is chairwoman of the KOVA Prize Committee, praised the contributions of the groups and individuals.

She said the prize, established by the KOVA Paint Group in 2002, should be expanded to cover all the country's rural areas. Only some rural areas are now included.

Binh Dinh to dredge Tam Quan seaport

The Binh Dinh People's Committee has approved a project to dredge the Tam Quan Seaport in Tam Quan Bac Commune, Hoai Nhon District.

The district people's committee is the primary investor in the project. Some 1.287m of land will be dredged. The project has a total investment of more than VND38 billion (US$1.6 million), provided by the provincial budget and private enterprises.

The project will be rolled out in two phases: the first in 2015-16 and the second in 2016-20.

Sand blocking the seaport will be dredged to clear a path to the Tam Quan ship shelter. This sand will be used for construction activities.

The Tam Quan Seaport is often filled with sand during the annual storm season due to climate change and flood tides, creating a hazard for ships entering and exiting the Tam Quan fishing port.

To ensure the safety of the 1,200-plus ships using the seaport, every year, the district and communal authorities have invested billions of dong to hire dredging ships. But the flood tides restore the sand only a short while later, creating difficulties for the seamen.

Bui Thanh Ninh, the commander of a fleet of nearly 20 ships in Tam Quan Bac Commune, said the project would help local seamen feel secure and make transporting goods into and out of the seaport more convenient and safer.

Vietinbank helps build houses for the poor in Ben Tre

National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attended a ceremony on January 4 to hand over 350 houses, built with funding from the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) in 2015, to poor families in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.

On this occasion, three medical clinics, one primary school and one kindergarten, funded by the bank, were also inaugurated in the locality.

Speaking at the event, NA Vice Chairwoman Ngan commended Vietinbank on not only effective business but also involvement in social welfare activities in localities across the country.

She said she hopes for continued assistance from the bank for the nation’s social welfare work.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Cao Van Trong pledged to direct local authorities to conserve and ensure the effective use of the work funded by Vietinbank.

To date, the bank has provided a total of 200 billion VND (8.88 million USD) for social welfare work in Ben Tre.

Ancient Sino Nom documents published

A book with a collection of village regulations, royal diplomas and decrees, and research on characters carved in stone at pagodas and temples from the Nguyen Dynasty has been released by Da Nang's publishing house.

The 360-page book is titled, Di San Han Nom of Da Nang (Sino-Nom Script Heritage in Da Nang).

Ho Tan Tuan, director of the city's Heritage Management Centre and the author of the book, said it's a full collection of ancient documents written in Chinese script.

Tuan said the book features research and translations by lecturers from Han Nom Faculty of the Hue City's Science College over the past 20 years.

"Over 250 village regulations, royal diplomas and decrees in Chinese scripts were translated by the Hue City's Science College's lecturers and researchers of Da Nang city's Museum," Tuan said.

"The book was published in commemoration of the contribution by former lecturer Nguyen Dinh Thang at the Hue Science College," Tuan said, adding that Thang's research was an important part of the book.

The book includes three parts – royal diplomas and decrees from Minh Mang King (1826-1842), village regulations and stone carvings at pagodas and temples.

Tuan said the book would help young students and researchers of Sinology on further studies on culture and archaeological sites in Da Nang and the central region.

In 2012, the city's Study Encouragement Association introduced ancient documents translated from Chinese script into Vietnamese, which contain accounts of Vietnamese control of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago hundreds of years ago.

The central city's historical science association has been translating the book of Ky Yeu Hoang Sa (the Yearbook of Paracel Islands) into English and Chinese.

The city also preserves a collection of 204 old tuong (classic drama) scripts, written in Chinese and Vietnamese ideography characters, which was published between 1802-45.

Tien Giang ensures power access for successful countryside building

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has made efforts over the last five years to facilitate the local residents’ access to electricity to realise the national target programme on building new-style rural areas.

The State-run Tien Giang Power Company said it has spent over 240 billion VND (10.7 million USD) since 2011 on building 64 transformers with a total capacity of 1,715 kVA, and installing more than 685km of low voltage lines and nearly 54km of medium voltage lines in key communes under the programme.

The firm has directly sold electricity to more than 114,000 households province-wide and guaranteed fair electricity quality and prices.

Director Luu Thanh Nam said the business has focused resources on completing power networks to assist local communes to fulfill the electricity-related criterion in the national target programme and serve rural socio-economic development.

All communes in Tien Giang have connected with the national power grid so far, helping raise the number of new-style rural communes to 12.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, aims to modernise rural regions in Vietnam. It sets 19 criteria covering infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among others.

As many as 1,300 communes were recognised as new-style rural localities, or 14.5 percent of the total, as of November 2015, according to a report delivered by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat on December 8.

Vietnam aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meet all the requirements by the end of 2020.-

HCM City provides happier Tet for poor people

Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will increase financial support for poor people and social policy beneficiaries on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2016.

People who have significant contributions to the national revolution including senior revolutionists, Vietnamese heroic mothers, wounded soldiers and Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims will receive between 1.06 million VND (46.64 USD) and 2.6 million VND (114.4 USD) in cash.

The city sets to grant 950,000 VND (41.8 USD) to former political prisoners and 1.5 million VND (66 USD) to families of soldiers doing their missions in Truong Sa (Spartly) archipelago.

Those enjoying social protection and old people aged above 80 years will get an allowance of 950,000 VND for Tet holiday.

Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Red Cross Society Nguyen Binh Tru said the municipal People’s Committee has launched a campaign to take care of poor people and AO victims across the city in 2016.

In addition to presenting 62,000 gift packages to underprivileged households, AO victims and poor patients under treatment at hospitals, the Society will provide 45 cows worth over 1.35 billion VND (59,400 USD) for poor farmers in Binh Chanh, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, and Nha Be districts as part of the “cow-bank” programme.

It will also coordinate with the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) in Vietnam to give free health check-ups, treatment and medicine to the needy in Cu Chi district as well as in Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, and Phu Yen provinces.

From January 10 to February 5, the city’s youth union will host a number of activities to bring a warm Tet holiday to disadvantaged children.

Khanh Hoa: over 2 trillion VND for new-style rural area building

The central coastal province of Khanh Hoa will allocate over 2.15 trillion VND (about 93 million USD) for its new-style rural area building from now to 2020, according to its programme coordination office.

Of the figure, over 1.9 trillion VND (83 million USD) will be sourced from the local budget and the remainder will come from other sources.

The province will give 620 billion VND (27 million USD) to 32 communes, aiming to add them to the list of those satisfying all new-style rural area criteria by 2020.

By doing so, the number of communes meeting all the criteria will be raised to 54, or 57.4 percent of the total communes in the province.

Dien Khanh district will be supported with 112 billion VND (4.8 million USD) to be recognised as a new-style rural district by 2020.

In the period from 2011 to 2015, Khanh Hoa spent nearly 1.2 trillion VND (53 million USD) on the new-style rural area building.

The province now has 22 out of its 94 communes meeting all 19 new-style rural area criteria. On average, each commune has fulfilled 12 criteria.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics, and defence, aiming to modernise rural areas.

The criteria cover the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacities, environmental protection, and the promotion of cultural values.

The country aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meeting all the requirements by the end of 2020.

Phuoc Tuong – Phu Gia road tunnel in Hue opens to traffic

The Phuoc Tuong – Phu Gia road tunnel on the National Road 1A that is crossing Phu Loc district, the central province of Thua Thien – Hue has been put into use.

The construction of the tunnel started in May, 2013 under the build– operate– transfer (BOT) model at a total cost of 1.74 trillion VND (77.8 million USD).

The Phuoc Tuong-Phu Gia tunnel allows a speed limit of 80km per hour.

It is expected to facilitate the smooth traffic flow and contribute to reducing traffic accidents, which often occurred in the Phuoc Tuong-Phu Gia pass, said Phan Bao Trung, head of the local traffic police station.

Disaster-hit localities to receive support

The Prime Minister has decided to allocate 130 billion VND (5.72 million VND) sourced from the 2015 State budget to help ten provinces affected by storms and floods repair their damaged essential infrastructure.

The beneficiaries are the northern provinces of Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Hoa Binh, Vinh Phuc and Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Quang Nam provinces in the central region.

The PM also assigned the Finance Ministry to provide 20 tonnes of vegetable seeds for Thanh Hoa province to assist local flood victims in restoring their production.

He asked People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provinces to use the aid, their own budget and other legal capital resources for right purposes and subjects, and report the outcomes to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will join hands with the Finance Ministry to support families having their houses destroyed or their relatives killed and injured by natural disasters.

Between September and October 2015, storms and floods left 23 people dead and missing and damaged 94 houses, more than 15,900 hectares of rice and nearly 8,500 hectares of crops, causing economic losses of more than 1.3 trillion VND (57.2 million USD).

Farm co-operatives need more support

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Viet Nam Co-operative Alliance have announced policy plans to support farming co-operatives by making them more competitive.

Although the Law on Co-operatives from 2012 authorised support to co-operatives including training, technology application, capital and trade promotion, the support had yet to make an impact, agriculture minister Cao Duc Phat said at a recent meeting in Ha Noi.

Many agriculture co-operatives did not identify their development orientation or key products to meet the market demand, Phat said.

They failed to expand production and benefit members of the co-operative, with only 10 per cent of the total 10,450 agriculture co-operatives operating effectively, Phat added. About 80 per cent had moderate performance, while the remaining 10 per cent reportedly had poor operations.

Almost all of the co-operatives concentrated on agriculture production, but paid little attention to finding markets or establishing themselves in the product-supply chain, he said.

"Each co-operative should not be seen as an independent economic entity, but part of a value chain that follows market rules," Phat said.

Chairman of Viet Nam Co-operative Alliance Vo Kim Cu said agriculture co-operatives comprised up to half of the total co-operatives in localities.

While participants of agriculture firms and co-operatives expect to receive some positive benefits from international trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership, they also feel vulnerable due to increased competition.

"Farmers are not clear on the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership or Asian Economic Community, but they are feeling tougher and tougher competition from outside," Cu said.

"They see the need for associating," he said. "Farming households associate into a group and groups associate into a co-operative. Co-operatives strengthen co-operation with banks and distributors."

Cu called for more support from the agriculture ministry in terms of financing and technology.

For example, Cu said the ministry should provide about VND50 million (US$2,200) for each co-operative's start-up and help them apply biotechnology in their production for higher productivity and lower costs.

Poor diet, lifestyle fuel health problems

Inappropriate dietary and lifestyles have hindered Vietnamese people from preventing and treating contemporary diseases, health experts have warned.

Dr Tran Tuan, director of the Ha Noi-based Research and Training Centre for Community Development, said that Vietnamese people were facing many contemporary diseases, namely cancer and mental and behavioural disorders.

He said that metabolic and endocrine disorders have also been increasing lately.

"Children in modern times become pubescent earlier than before, partly because of diet," Tuan said.

He warned that other diseases such as obesity, high blood cholesterol and eye problems were at high levels in the country.

Meanwhile, deputy head of the National Institute of Nutrition, Nguyen Thi Lam, said that high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular problems and diabetes were rapidly increasing in recent years.

"In 1990, there were 8 to 9 per cent of grown-ups in Viet Nam suffering high blood pressure. That was already a high increase in comparison with 1960 with only 1 per cent. But now the figure is up to 30 per cent," she said to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Lam said that the high rate was related to the salty diet of many Vietnamese people.

"A Vietnamese person normally consumes a salt portion which is double to triple that of the recommended 5mg a day," she said, adding that salt intake came from different types of popular food in Viet Nam such as pickles and salted meat.

She also said that Vietnamese people's diet in modern time was unbalanced with less vegetables and fruits.

"On average, a Vietnamese person now eats only 200 grams of vegetable, which is just half of the recommended amount. Meanwhile, the consumption of fruit is just 80 grams a day, which is less than the recommended 100-300 grams," she said.

The diet in modern times was said to lack whole-grain cereals and unsaturated fat.

Lam recommended people maintain a traditional family diet with more vegetables and fruit. People in urban areas are recommended to eat less meat and more beans and peas, drink more traditional herbs instead of fizzy drinks.

The nutritionist also blamed a lack of exercise among Vietnamese people as causing contemporary diseases.

Regarding the refractive errors, Lam said the diseases were caused of eye-using habits, sitting posture and sitting period.

"A recent research shows that Vietnamese children sit a lot. Besides the sitting time at school, many children are spending an additional of three hours sitting for eating, playing and watching TV," she said.

Lam urged Vietnamese people to exercise more, at least 30 to 60 minutes a day for walking, running and other activities.

Coach tickets to be available at schools, colleges

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has asked schools, colleges and universities to co-operate with transport enterprises to sell coach tickets to students at their educational institutions and hostels.

The move is in line with the guidelines issued by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to ensure traffic safety and order on the New Year and Lunar New Year Holidays, and would make it easier for students to come home on the Lunar New Year 2016 holiday.

The move aims to support students to return to their hometowns as well as reduce pressure on the transport hubs.

According to Vice Director of Southern Coach Station Vuong Duy Toan, more than 50 per cent of passengers at the station on the Lunar New Year are students, so the co-operation between schools and transport enterprises would help to manage the traffic more easily.

Most of the students welcomed the move.

"Although the way from Ha Noi to my hometown is quite convenient, and there are many coaches, we might be forced to go home in low-quality coaches if we do not buy tickets in advance because it is the end of the year," a student from Thai Binh Northern Province, said.

Quang Hung, a student from Nam Dinh, said he had to queue up for hours to buy a ticket at the bus station in the last Lunar New Year, so this time he really looked forward to support from the transport enterprises and schools.

Besides, the MoET has also asked schools, colleges and universities to conduct activities to promote traffic laws to students.

Cruel festivals, including pig slaughter rite, must be eliminated in 2016

Cultural officials in Vietnam have expressed their determination to stop festivals criticized for their inappropriateness and brutality.

Disturbing fests must definitely be halted, Vu Xuan Thanh, chief inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said at a meeting to review festivals organized in 2015 late last month.

Meeting attendees debated extensively whether a pig slaughter festival in the northern region should be eliminated.

The Pig Slaughter Festival in Nem Thuong Village, located in Bac Ninh Province, has met with fierce criticism from animal rights activists and Hong Kong-based animal protection NGO Animals Asia.  

As part of the tradition, pigs are carried around the village and then slaughtered in front of thousands of locals and visitors, including children, as a sacrifice to God.

People then daub sheets of money with the pig’s blood in the hope of getting luck for the new year.

Last year, Animals Asia even called on people to sign a petition, urging relevant Vietnamese agencies to end the festival due to what the NGO called its brutality.

Nguyen Huu Hoa, an official from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Bac Ninh, asserted that the pig slaughter festival does not violate the country’s laws.

Meanwhile, Prof. Ngo Duc Thinh, former director of the Vietnam Institute of Cultural Studies, said the government should not apply administrative management methods to folk fests, as local people themselves will cease them when they realize it is no longer suitable to organize them.

“Moreover, the pig slaughter festival is meant for the local community only, not tourists,” he said.

Prof. Thinh suggested that elder people in Nem Thuong Village to carry out the slaughter part at night and limit media access.

According to him, senior residents in the village have agreed to this suggestion.

Chief inspector Thanh strongly opposed the opinions, saying the festival cannot be considered only a local event that does not affect other people.

He added that numerous cultural experts and associations have backed the ministry’s intention to scrap the festival.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said that he had also met with authorities in Bac Ninh to call for an end to the pig slaughter festival.

“Isn’t it a superstitious and old-fashioned custom in which people daub sheets of money with the pig’s blood in the hope of getting luck for the new year?” he wondered.

Civilized things will be accepted but inappropriate rituals should not be observed anymore, he stressed, adding he hoped not to deal with any complaint about upsetting festivals this year.

Researcher Bui Trong Hien, of the Institute of Vietnamese Arts and Culture, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the pig slaughter fest stems from a willingness to blindly follow ancestors’ customs, including those considered already outdated.

“In a civilized society, killing an animal and daubing sheets of money with its blood are regarded as very horrific rites,” he said.

“The old customs were created under certain historical circumstances which were suitable only in the past,” he said.

Health Minister recommends free Korean-made Quinvaxem vaccine amid death controversy

Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has insisted on the use of a free 5-in-1 vaccine, which has been blamed for many deaths of children after injection, against the backdrop that an alternative is increasingly preferred by local parents due to its safety.

The complimentary Quinvaxem vaccine, made in South Korea, is stronger than its costly alternative Pentaxim even though the former may bring more mild allergic reactions, Health Minister Tien told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Quinvaxem cannot cause more serious complications that may lead to fatality than Pentaxim, the official confirmed.

The reactions include light fever or coughing as children’s bodies are still sensitive at early ages, Minister Tien said.

The Quinvaxem vaccine also provides babies with stronger and longer lasting protection against diseases as it contains whole-cell pertussis components while Pentaxim includes acellular elements, the minister further explained.

Regarding many cases in which children died after being injected with the free vaccine, Minister Tien stated that all types of vaccine pose a small possibility of fatality, adding that the common rate of death is one to four in a million shots.

There are three main reasons that may cause children to die after being immunized with Quinvaxem shots.

“The first is anaphylaxis which has a low probability of occurrence but inevitable. The second is that a lack of proper treatment for the less severe cases of anaphylaxis leads to fatalities. And the third arises from the fact that babies have already developed some kinds of illness before getting a shot, including congenital heart disease, immune disorders, genetic diseases, and others,” Minister Tien elaborated.

Many parents have been petrified as they constantly read articles about the deaths of children after getting the Quinvaxem immunization without a proper understanding of the real cause, according to the minister.

Thousands of children will be susceptible to the deadly diseases Quinvaxem is meant to fight, of whom hundreds will be killed, if they do not receive the vaccination on time, she insisted.

The reason why many countries use the Pentaxim vaccine instead of Quinvaxem is they have long been applying the acellular technology, which is used to produce Pentaxim, Minister Tien explained to Tuoi Tre reporters.

In 2014, the Ministry of Health considered substituting Quinvaxem with Pentaxim and consulted many health experts in Switzerland, according to the minister.

However, the specialists agreed that the substitution was not possible due to the high cost of the Pentaxim vaccine and a dearth of supply.

In addition, the more children Pentaxim is used on, the higher the possibility of fatal complications, Minister Tien said.

“The death rate caused by Pentaxim would be similar to that by Quinvaxem. People would begin blaming it on the new vaccine. How would we be able to explain?” she said.

In response to the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) decision to cease the supply of Quinvaxem to Vietnam in the next three years, the official said that the Ministry of Health is trying to figure out a way to produce the vaccine.

Quinvaxem is a Korean-made vaccine that is meant to prevent five common, potentially fatal childhood diseases: diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P, whooping cough), hepatitis B (HepB), and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

It was first included in the National Expanded Immunization Program in June 2010.

Pentaxim, which is a French-made alternative to Quinvaxem, is thought to be safer and increasingly preferred by Vietnamese parents, following multiple cases in which infants died after being injected with Quinvaxem.

Pentaxim is costly (at around US$27 per shot) and low in supply, causing challenges for many parents to get the shots for their kids and leading some of the families to take their children to Singapore for such immunization.

Nguyen Van Tien, a deputy of the National Assembly, suggested that Vietnam continue the dual supply of Quinvaxem and Pentaxim.

The country should only consider making Pentaxim the primary 5-in-1 vaccine when its financial capacity is ensured, he said.

An independent committee should be established to provide scientific and impersonal evaluation on the safety of Quinvaxem to create transparency, said Doctor Tran Tuan, director of the Research and Training Center for Community Development.

For a long-term solution, authorities should improve the management, supervision as well as quality assurance of vaccine services in the country, Dr. Tuan said.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri