Delay in TB vaccines blamed on supplier

By Khetam Malkawi - Apr 15,2015 - Last updated at Apr 15,2015

AMMAN — The Ministry of Health on Wednesday said the unavailability of BCG (tuberculosis) vaccines at its health centres is due to a delay from the supplier who was supposed to deliver the requested shipment last month.

Hatem Azrui, the ministry’s spokesperson, said because of the delay in the order, the ministry has addressed the unified procurement department to handle the issue to ensure the vaccine's availability as soon as possible.

The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine protects against tuberculosis (TB).

In Jordan the vaccine is listed as part of the national vaccination programme and is given to children under the age of one.

According to Azrui, children up to three years old can also take this vaccine as advised by specialised doctors, but it is advisable to administer it before their first birthday.

He explained that the vaccine is not available in the private sector and is only imported by the ministry through the unified procurement department.

Mahmoud Bataineh, director of the department, said the shipment was supposed to be delivered on March 15; however, due to a manufacturing defect in the vaccine, the supplier could not receive the shipment and deliver it on time.

Bataineh said the vaccine is also unavailable in other countries that requested the same shipment.

Thus, he said a tender has been floated to obtain another batch, and the new shipment is supposed to arrive next month.

TB is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) website.

"In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person's immune system acts to 'wall off' the bacteria.”

The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats, the WHO website said, adding that the disease is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.