Vietnam mass produces country’s first measles-rubella vaccine

Vietnam has successfully mass produced a combined vaccine against measles and rubella for the first time, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said on May 3.



The vaccine, which was made by the Ministry’s Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biology (POLYVAC) as part of a project with cooperation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, places Vietnam in a group of 25 countries worldwide that can now mass produce the antibiotic.

In addition, Vietnam is now the fourth country in Asia that can manufacture the vaccine on a large scale, following Japan, India and China.

POLYVAC director Nguyen Dang Hien told the media that the measles-rubella vaccine has been tested on 756 healthy people aged 1 to 45 in the northern provinces of Ha Nam and Hoa Binh.

He added that the vaccine had met all safety requirements.

Vietnamese children are expected to start receiving the vaccine free of charge in the very near future under the National Expanded Program on Immunization, according to other governmental sources.

The country aims to eliminate measles in 2017 and put an end to rubella.

VOV