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29 March 2024

Hospitals responsible for chicken pox vaccine

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is not responsible for supplying vaccines to the private sector, a senior government official has told Emirates 24|7.

“We are not responsible for supplying vaccines to the private sector and are only responsible for vaccines for government health facilities,” the ministry said in an emailed statement.

The ministry’s response came after this website reported on March 16 that a major private hospital and health clinic in Dubai had said they had no stock of Varilrix, the chicken pox vaccine, for almost a week now and were expecting new supply to arrive only by this coming weekend.

“The MoH provides vaccines as per the National Immunisation Program (NIP) at its facilities including primary healthcare clinics, mother and child clinics, MoH hospitals, school health clinics and preventive medicine departments.

The MoH organises to purchase, store and distribute the required vaccines to them through its own supply chain,” it said.

The Varilrix vaccine is supplied GlaxoSmithKline and costs Dh250 in the UAE.

MoH clarified that the private sector in the country directly purchases its vaccines (including chicken pox vaccine) from the vaccine manufacturer depending on their requirement.

“The ministry is not involved in this process and if there is a shortage in the private sector, it is the vaccine manufacturer or the clinic/hospital concerned who can answer the question of why it is so,” it said.

The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine has been included in the NIP to be given at the end of 12 months to all children born after March 2011 in MoH clinics.