Singapore: The World Health organization recently certified Vietnam's vaccine management system as internationally standardized declaring that the Southeast Asian nation can now produce vaccines for the global market.

Mr Truong Quoc Cuong, head of the drug management department at the health ministry, said at a recent meeting that the new recognition from WHO will allow Vietnam to export all the ten vaccines it produces. "The country will target markets in Asia first, "Vietnamese vaccines can be very competitive. Many only cost a third of imported alternatives," he mentioned.

The Vietnam Ministry of Health held a grand ceremony to celebrate the occasion after the health governing body released a statement mentioning that it has officially recognized Vietnam's vaccine supplies to be fit for worldwide use, after a grand review last April.

Speaking at the ceremony, deputy Prime Minister Mr Vu Duc Dam said that WHO's formal certification of Vietnamese-made vaccine is a big event and a giant progress of the country's health sector in particular and the nation's science industry in general. This also manifests the Ministry of Health's huge efforts and management agencies and scientists' hard work.

WHO has been assessing Vietnam's vaccine management since 2001 in order to grant the country its national regulatory authority (NRA) recognition to export its vaccines through WHO pre-qualification process.

Stating that the achievement will serve as an inspiration to other Southeast Asian nations, Dr Shin Young-soo, regional director of WHO's Western Pacific Region, said that Vietnam now has a fully-equipped national regulatory system that ensures the safety and effectiveness of vaccines they produce and use; this confirms that vaccines produced in the country are quality assured to international standards of production, safety, and effectiveness.