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Thank you very much to the Ministry of Health for organizing this event to mark World Immunization Week for 2024, a year in which we also celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the global Expanded Programme on Immunization, or EPI.
And indeed, this is an occasion worthy of celebration. Thanks to this programme, globally, vaccines have saved more than 150 million young lives. More children now live to see their first birthday and beyond, than at any other time in human history. What an incredible public health success story.
We are here today specifically to mark Viet Nam’s part in this success story. Since Viet Nam’s EPI network was launched in 1981, reaching to every commune in the country, millions of children have been protected from preventable diseases like polio, measles, tetanus and diphtheria.
WHO offers our sincere congratulations to the Government of Viet Nam for its leadership on the national EPI program over many decades. We also offer our sincere gratitude to all of the dedicated health care workers who, week in, week out, year in, year out, have worked tirelessly to ensure children in their communities benefit from the transformative power of vaccines.
To ensure the success of EPI continues for the next 50 years, we need to achieve and maintain high vaccination coverage. But unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries experienced disruptions to routine immunization – putting high coverage rates at risk.
Here in Viet Nam, hundreds of thousands of children have missed out on vaccinations since 2021 due to pandemic-related disruptions and the more recent vaccine supply stock-outs, leading to the largest sustained decline in rates of childhood immunization in Viet Nam in over 20 years.
As a result, we are already seeing more cases and clusters of vaccine-preventable diseases – including diphtheria and pertussis, and we are worried that we currently face the very real risk of a large-scale measles outbreak. As all of you know, this would have tragic consequences for children, families, communities and the country as a whole.
This is still a solvable problem. We know what we need to do, and we can do it together.
I commend the Prime Minister’s office, the National Assembly and the Minister of Health for their leadership and immense efforts last year to unlock supply of vaccines. I know we can now count on the same leadership and commitment to respond to the measles outbreaks we are currently seeing in several provinces, the threat of outbreaks elsewhere, and in doing so avoid large-scale transmission.
In particular, for provinces and cities experiencing growing numbers of cases, we encourage you to declare outbreaks, to help unlock both domestic and international resources for response.
To support this effort, I am pleased to advise today that WHO has finalised the procurement of an emergency supply of more than 1 million doses of measles-rubella vaccines, to be used as part of the campaign we are launching today, for outbreak response and supplementary immunization activities in highest-risk areas. Our sincere thanks to DFAT and other donors who have made this procurement possible.
Of course, we stand ready to continue to support the Ministry’s response to the current situation in any way we can – as well as to strengthen the system to avoid future outbreaks, including through addressing bottlenecks in procuring vaccines for outbreak response, and strengthening overall preparedness capacity.
Looking ahead, we have an opportunity now to write the next chapters of Viet Nam’s EPI success story – most immediately, by responding to the risk currently posed by measles; and then through sustained commitment and action to ensure high population coverage of existing EPI vaccines into the future.
Beyond this, we look forward to supporting Viet Nam to introduce new vaccines into its EPI program – expanding the protection that vaccines offer to more people and to fight more diseases, to protect older persons from influenza, mothers and newborns from tetanus and pertussis, adolescents from HPV (the virus that causes cervical cancer), and young children from rotavirus and pneumococcal disease.
So, on this occasion, WHO is immensely proud to join hands with the Ministry of Health, with partners including UNICEF, and with the donors who support this vital work to mark 50 years of saving lives through vaccination.
With determination, optimism and hope, we look forward to continuing to play our part, together with all of you, in the story of helping to create a healthier and safer Viet Nam.
Xin cảm ơn va chuc suc khoe!