After nearly 40 years since the birth of the meningococcal group B and C vaccine (Cuba), this is the first time Vietnam has an equivalent group B meningococcal vaccine. on one’s own.
The new generation vaccine to prevent meningitis caused by group B meningococcal bacteria (Neisseria meningitidis B) has just been put into use at vaccination clinics by the VNVC vaccination system.
After nearly 40 years since the vaccine against meningococcal group B and C (Cuba) was introduced in the world and put into use for many years, this is the first time Vietnam has an additional vaccine. similar group B meningococcal vaccine, produced with new technology, increasing protection effectiveness and safety when used.
VNVC vaccination system is the first vaccination center in Vietnam to have a new generation group B meningococcal meningitis vaccine produced by GSK in Italy.
Vaccines are now available at 165 VNVC centers nationwide. This is especially meaningful when Cuba’s meningococcal B and C vaccines have been in short supply on the market for a long time, causing many children to not be vaccinated according to the regimen.
At the Launch Ceremony, Ms. Elena De Angelis, National Medical Director, GSK Vietnam Company said that GSK has a 140-year history of developing vaccines with the mission of contributing to reducing diseases and improving health. community.
This new vaccine introduced into Vietnam is expected to minimize the devastating impact of meningococcal meningitis, aiming to protect more than one million Vietnamese newborns from this disease by vaccines in the next 5 years.
According to Ms. Elena De Angelis, up to 1 in 6 people with bacterial meningitis die and 1 in 5 of those affected suffer lifelong consequences.
The new generation meningococcal B vaccine is indicated for children from 2 months old and adults up to 50 years old.
Vaccinating children early and expanding the age of indication to 50 years old will help more people be protected against this dangerous disease, especially high-risk groups such as young children and groups often forgotten to be vaccinated such as adolescents, adults, people with underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease…
Meningococcal meningitis (group B) is a particularly dangerous infectious disease that can cause death within just 24 hours from the onset of the disease or cause lifelong disability for survivors such as amputation or deafness. , blindness, developmental delay, intellectual disability…
The disease is also dangerous because it is often detected late, causing confusion in diagnosis, making it difficult to treat promptly. The younger the child, the more difficult the signs are to detect.
Thus, along with ACYW meningococcal vaccine, Japanese encephalitis vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine groups 10, 13…, new generation vaccine to prevent meningitis caused by Meningococcal B (GSK produced in Italy) has relatively perfected the shield to prevent dangerous encephalitis and meningitis caused by viruses and bacteria for children and adults.
As of July 2023, this vaccine has been approved in 52 countries, of which 14 countries are included in the national vaccination program such as England, Italy, Portugal…
The news that the new generation meningococcal B vaccine has been put into use in Vietnam is good news for experts, doctors and millions of people because meningococcal disease is a dangerous disease with a high mortality rate. high, causing a large disability burden.
Previously, many important vaccines from GSK such as 6-in-1 vaccine Infanrix Hexa, pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix, acute diarrhea vaccine Rotarix, pertussis – diphtheria – tetanus vaccine Boostrix, Varilrix chickenpox vaccine… has also been deployed at the VNVC System, protecting the health of millions of children and adults in Vietnam.
Doctor Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of VNVC Vaccination System, said that meningococcal disease is an acute infectious disease, transmitted through the respiratory tract.
Bacteria exist in the oropharynx and nose and are spread through direct contact with secretions and saliva from people carrying the disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) statistics that each year the world has about 1.2 million cases of meningitis and 135,000 deaths due to meningococcal bacteria.
In Vietnam, according to statistics from the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, meningococcal disease has a high incidence rate, up to about 2.3/100,000 people. This is one of the 10 infectious diseases with the highest death rate in the country, up to 0.03/100,000 people. Every year, our country still records dozens of cases of meningococcal meningitis from different groups.
The disease causes many dangerous complications such as meningitis, septicemia, pneumonia, arthritis, otitis media, pericarditis…
Among them, meningitis and sepsis are the two most common and sudden diseases, which can lead to death within just 24 hours. The disease is characterized by signs such as vomiting, stiff neck, photophobia, star-shaped red rash…
However, the initial symptoms of the disease are often unclear and resemble common viral diseases such as headache, sore throat, fever, nausea… making the disease easily misdiagnosed, with a mortality rate of up to 50% if detected. no treatment.
On the other hand, even with timely and aggressive treatment, the disease also has a high mortality rate, up to 15%. Up to 20% of patients who survive meningococcus suffer many physical and mental sequelae such as amputation, deafness, blindness, psychological disorders, intellectual disability…
Not to mention, the disease leaves a huge mental and economic burden on the patient and family members. Estimated treatment costs for a case of meningococcal meningitis are very expensive.
According to a report Economic Burden – Cost of Disease in Germany from 2001-2015, on average each case lost from 57,000 euros (more than 1 billion VND) to 171,000 euros (more than 4.5 billion VND) in treatment costs. direct value and long-term costs.
In Vietnam, treating cases of meningococcal disease costs hundreds of millions to billions of dong, not to mention the costs of nurturing and caring for people with serious health complications later on, which are also immeasurable. same cost. The younger the age, the greater the cost of treatment and monitoring long-term sequelae.
New generation meningococcal B vaccine produced with advanced technology, early prevention for children from 2 months old, effective protection up to 94%.
Meningococcal bacteria have 12 different groups capable of causing disease, of which A, B, C, Y and W135 are the 5 most common and dangerous groups.
The new generation vaccine has been shown to be up to 94% effective in preventing invasive meningococcal disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis B.
The vaccine is researched and produced using modern technology, based on the meningococcal genome approach to develop vaccines (reverse vaccinology), containing four antigenic components that provide the ability to kill Highly synergistic, durable and allows broad strain coverage.
In addition to advanced production technology that is more effective, the new vaccine also provides early protection when administered to children as young as 2 months old, earlier than the previous meningococcal vaccine in Vietnam that was administered to children as young as 6 years old. months or 9 months old. Children from 2 months old to under 2 years old need 2 basic vaccinations and 1 booster vaccination. Children from 2 years old and adults up to 50 years old only need 2 injections.
New generation meningococcal B vaccine can be administered simultaneously with vaccines containing diphtheria, acellular pertussis, tetanus, Hib, inactivated polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and meningococcal conjugate groups A, C, Y, W.
“In infants and young children, the immune system is not yet mature and reduced levels of protective antibodies from the mother lead to low bacteria-killing ability, which makes children more susceptible to disease.
Children under 1 year old have the highest risk compared to other age groups, especially those under 5 months old. Vaccinating children as early as 2 months old will minimize the risk of disease and sequelae caused by group B meningococcus,” Dr. Chinh analyzed.
Meningococcal vaccine is not included in the expanded vaccination program, and vaccination rates are not high, leading to a very low number of people with protective immunity.
In addition, the high rate of people carrying bacteria but not showing symptoms – “healthy carriers” – is a source of spreading pathogens to the community that is difficult to control.
According to statistics, about 10% of healthy people in the population carry the infection. The rate of healthy people carrying the infection can increase up to 50% when an epidemic occurs.
The highest rate of carrying the disease and transmitting it to the remaining groups is teenagers and young adults who have a lot of interaction and contact activities. Therefore, having a new meningococcal vaccine that can be administered early and for many ages is considered a new, highly effective shield to protect public health.
In the context of many circulating diseases such as Covid-19, flu, measles, chickenpox, dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease… threatening public health and climate change, air pollution…, vaccination- It is very necessary to prevent diseases in general and meningococcal diseases in particular.
To prevent meningococcal disease, experts recommend that children from 2 months old and adults, especially people with chronic diseases, receive early vaccination.
Serogroups that prevent strains that cause meningitis do not cross-protect, so even if children have been vaccinated against group B, they can still be infected with groups A, C, Y and W. Therefore, in addition to vaccination against meningitis, Meningococcus caused by group B meningococcus, people still need to pay attention to getting vaccinated against groups A, C, Y and W.
