Ministry to continue vaccination programme   Source: NLD Certain localities temporarily stopped giving hepatitis B vaccines to newborn babies after the deaths of four babies who had received  the vaccinations, but the Minister of Health has asked all localities to carry on with the vaccination schedule.    Baby gets vaccination shot at a clinic in HCM City "Localities that stopped the vaccination schedule are violating the Ministry of Health's direction." said Nguyen Tran Hien, President of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Recently, three newborn babies died at the General Hospital in Huong Hoa District in Quang Tri Province after being vaccinated for hepatitis B. While the public was still in shock, another newborn baby at General Hospital in Tuy Phong District, Binh Thuan Province, also died after being administered the same vaccine on July 21. On July 24, the minister of Health, Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, had a meeting with advisory boards on vaccine usage and complications appraisal, to discuss the deaths of the four babies. Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department, said the investigation is going on and they have sent samples to relevant agencies to check the vaccine's quality. In addition, the Ministry of Health has asked the WHO to appoint a foreign clinic where Vietnam can send samples in order to test the vaccine's quality.    Waiting outside to get vaccination shots against hepatitis B The two batches of vaccine that are suspect will not be used anymore, however, the immunisation programs for newborns and infants will still be continued. "80 other countries in the world give vaccination shots to babies within 24 hours of birth," Binh said. In some cases, infants are born to mothers who unknowingly carry the virus, so many people have suggested that  the mother's health be checked carefully before vaccination. If the mother is healthy then there's no need to give shots to newborn babies. However, according to Binh, this plan is not practical because they will not be able to detect the virus in its early stages. Representatives of WHO in Vietnam affirmed the need to give the first shot against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth and three more shots in the next 15 months. Infants have a 90% chance of developing hepatitis B even though they do not show any symptoms. Meanwhile, the head of the Centre for Research and Consulting on Public Health, Do Sy Hien, said Vietnam still uses some of the old vaccines such as vaccines for Japanese encephalitis which WHO recommended against, and Quinvaxem ,about whose potential dangers many experts have warned.