Health officials and doctors agree that Vietnam is ready to implement a safe vaccination campaign for children aged 5-11, aiming to have a vaccination rate in this age group of 90-95 per cent.
Experts say following a successful vaccination programme for children aged 12-17, it is now vital for younger children to be vaccinated to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.
Very few adverse reactions were reported after younger children received the vaccine, meaning that parents should be confident in the safety and efficacy of the jabs.
The experts spoke during a recent talk show on vaccination for children held by Bao Chinh Phu (Government News), an online government newspaper, with the participation of deputy director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and head of the division on the National Expanded Vaccination Programme Duong Thi Hong, director of the National Children’s Hospital Tran Minh Dien, and director of the Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital Number 1 Nguyen Thanh Hung.
“We hope that parents have trust in us. The upcoming vaccination programme for children aged 5-11 will be done safely,” said Duong.
“Instead of using mandates to make parents have their children vaccinated, we are more into persuading them and doing communication work to give them scientific evidence and results of the safe vaccination programmes.
We have done as well as the effectiveness of the vaccines to gain trust from parents,” she said.
“We should learn from our lesson with measles vaccines. Despite having abundant measles vaccines, there were still children unvaccinated. They contracted the disease with severe complications and died.
“We have implemented a successful vaccination programme for children aged 12-17 with 17 million doses administered for people in this age group, said Hong.
More than 97 per cent of children in this group have received at least one dose and 94.6 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
About 0.5-10 per cent of vaccinated children in 12-18 reported having normal reactions. The rates vary in different localities. This is based on the data from vaccination sites. There are also reported cases with severe reactions but they have been handled and recovered.
Some reports of myocarditis after the vaccine have been reported but they have been treated and there is no risk.
Among 17 million doses administered for children, there are five in every million doses of vaccine reporting to have severe reactions.
“The rate in Vietnam is safe and within the recommendation of WHO and the manufacturers,” Duong said.
VIET NAM NEW/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
