Long Chau vaccination centers red-flagged for violations

A series of Long Chau vaccination centers run by FPT Long Chau Pharmaceutical JSC across the country have been red-flagged by authorities, raising concerns that customers have not received high-quality, safe, and effective vaccinations.

On July 6, Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Health said it had received a report following an inspection in June of the Long Chau 103 vaccination center in Tan Quy ward, Tan Phu district from the district People's Committee.

The report showed that the center was ill-equipped to handle any allergic reactions to vaccinations.

In addition, the injection rooms were not equipped with handwashing sinks, and the area for handling post-injection reactions was shared with the screening room. The facilities available to treat adverse events failed to meet requirements.

In addition, there were no posters displaying vaccination regulations, while firefighting equipment and backup electricity generators were absent.

Notably, a large volume of vaccines have not been stored properly and the internal vaccination management software has not operated synchronously.

The inspectors determined that the center failed to observe all vaccination safety conditions and needed to fix the above shortcomings for a reassessment.

Similar violations were also detected at the FPT Long Chau 22 vaccination center on Yersin street, Thu Dau Mot town, Binh Duong province, such as limited facilities, no post-injection monitoring rooms, and no vaccine storage that meets good storage practice (GSP) standards.

Notably, also in June, Hanoi’s Ha Dong district Medical Center discovered violations at two vaccination centers run by FPT Long Chau.

In May 2024, the Department of Health of Phu Yen province in south-central Vietnam announced the suspension of two Long Chau vaccination centers due to failure to meet requirements.

Vaccination is a new segment for FPT Long Chau, a member of FPT Retail JSC, after the giant established its position at the top of the Vietnamese pharmacy chain market.

This company launched the vaccination segment in July 2023. By May 2024, the number of Long Chau vaccination centers had reached 50, but due to their relatively small size, the customers are mainly adults, with no children under 24 months old, which are the main target of vaccinations in Vietnam.

In 2023, Long Chau pharmacy chain earned VND1.5 trillion ($58.94 million) in revenue. Its pharmacies increased from only four in 2017 to 1,600 last year, serving 16 million customers.

FPT Retail leaders said that in 2024, FPT Long Chau's revenue is expected to maintain double-digit growth. The firm will continue to focus on strengthening its position as the top pharmacy chain, providing customers with the best choices at the most suitable prices.

Consequences from sub-standard vaccination process

Vaccination facilities that fail to meet necessary conditions can lead to shortcomings in the control and monitoring of the vaccination process, hindering people from receiving high-quality, safe, and effective vaccinations and even cause negative effects on human health, said Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, former head of the Pediatrics Department at the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital.

A safe vaccination process helps increase prevention effectiveness by encouraging immune cells to develop the ability to respond to diseases, especially dangerous infectious ones, he noted.

The most important step is storing vaccines safely in a warehouse that meets GSP standards, he added.