Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia jointly purchase rotavirus vaccine
Experts from the three Baltic countries have jointly purchased more than 385 000 doses of rotavirus vaccine. The joint procurement contract was concluded for a three-year period. Lithuania will receive as many as 180,000 doses of rotavirus vaccine out of this joint procurement.
“The Baltic countries have taken another important step to protect the health of the population. Working together with colleagues from neighbouring countries helps to rationalise the time spent on negotiations and reduces not only human resources but also administrative costs,” says Aurimas Pečkauskas, Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.
According to Neringa Norkūnaitė-Sasnauskienė, Deputy Director of the National Health Insurance Fund under the Ministry of Health, a new shipment of vaccines should reach Lithuania in the near future.
“A joint three-country contract for the purchase of rotavirus vaccine has already been signed with the manufacturer. Lithuania has purchased 180,000 doses of the vaccine, which will cost just over EUR 1.8 million. The quantity of vaccines purchased should be sufficient for about 3 years”, says N. Norkūnaitė-Sasnauskienė.
This is not the first time that the Baltic countries have purchased vaccines under a joint agreement signed in 2012. For example, in 2017, Lithuania and Latvia bought pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccines for children up to 2 years old. Lithuania was then the purchasing leader and executed the procurement.
Rotavirus vaccination reimbursed by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund was added to the Childhood Preventive Vaccination Calendar in September 2018. To date, more than 186 000 children in Lithuania have been vaccinated against this infection.
Medical experts remind us that rotavirus infection is a viral intestinal infection that causes severe acute diarrhoea, fever and vomiting in infants and children. The body rapidly loses water, which can lead to impaired functioning of many organs and general intoxication.
Infants are vaccinated against rotavirus infection in three doses at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months of age. It is recommended to follow the schedule set out in the Children's Preventive Vaccination Calendar and to contact your family doctor in good time for the vaccinations reimbursed by health insurance funds.
For more information on childhood vaccinations, see here.
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Last updated: 18-03-2022
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