Around 1.4 million children aged under one will get free vaccinations from July, the head of the expanded national program on immunization, Nguyen Tran Hien, said January 19.

As from July 1, 2009, children under one year old will receive free combined vaccine shots (Photo:TTO)

They will get a combined vaccine -- DPT-VGB-HIB -- against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis b and haemophilus influenzae type b.

In related news, the Ministry of Health’s scientific council for medical research and drugs announced that Cervarix, a vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline against cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, would be routinely given to women aged from 10 to 25.

Until now women up to 55 who had not previously got it have been getting the shots.

The change follows Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu’s orders to the council to reconsider the age following rumors over approval procedures for the drug.