The government has asked the Ministries of Health and Finance to increase bonus for medical workers who administered the vaccine in the National Expanded Immunization program.
The two ministries were also ordered to consider the price of Vietnamese-made vaccines for self-subsistence. According to the Ministry of Health, low price of Vietnamese-made vaccines causes difficulties for manufacturers.
The price of local-made vaccine in the National Expanded Immunization program was approved years ago. Since 2010, there have been an increase of prices of materials, chemicals, electricity, water and employees’ salary but the price of vaccine has still stayed unchanged.
Though in 2014, the government rechecked the vaccine price, it did not increase much compared to 2010. A part of imported vaccines in the program was aided and bought by state budget funds as corresponding capital through bidding and the price of vaccine parents have to pay is controlled by distributors.
Medical workers just receive VND7,000 (US$0.32) a day for oral vaccine to VND17,000 (US$0.78) as per the Ministry of Finance’s decree issued on January, 2014. Due to low payment, many medical workers in district clinics don’t want to administer shoots since it is a heavy duty.
