The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decided to provide Vietnam with 1.3 million doses of hepatitis B vaccine after the Ministry of Health requested a halt on the use of vaccines from the Republic of Korea’s LG firm.

The MoH said it will strictly inspect this batch of vaccine before use. After receiving the batch, it will continue to conduct clinical tests on the new vaccine.

LG firm’s hepatitis B vaccine has been widely used in Vietnam (accounting for 70-80 percent) before serious problems were discovered. After the halt on the use of the vaccines, the nationally expanded vaccination programme used Vietnam’s own hepatitis B vaccine to avoid a scarcity of supply. However, it takes at least four months to produce finished vaccines. Therefore, Vietnam still needs UNICEF’s support in providing vaccines on a short-term order.