COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, who needs to get vaccinated?

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the first two weeks of 2024 increased 2.7 times compared to the previous period, the 'concerning' sub-variant JN.1 appeared in a COVID-19 case in Ho Chi Minh City.

The question now is how dangerous is the new variant (JN.1) and what should be done to protect ourselves from the attack of the new variant.

covid 19 is spreading rapidly who needs to get vaccinated picture 1 — Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent disease (illustrative photo).

Speaking to the press, Dr. Hoang Minh Duc - Deputy Director in charge of managing and operating the Department of Preventive Medicine said that in the first 2 weeks of 2024, 419 COVID-19 cases were recorded and hospitalized scattered in 39 provinces and cities; the number of cases increased 2.4 times compared to the previous 2 weeks, the number of hospitalizations increased but there were no severe cases, the treatment system is still responding effectively.

According to Mr. Hoang Minh Duc, currently infectious diseases are being controlled nationwide. No dangerous group A epidemics have been recorded.

Other infectious diseases are stable. However, in the Northern region, which is in the winter-spring period, the weather changes erratically;

This is also the time when our country is preparing to celebrate Lunar New Year, the festival season, so people travel and interact a lot, which is a favorable condition for pathogens to spread and there is a risk of increasing the number of infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, especially in high-risk groups such as children, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions.

Dr. Duc shared that after the January 22 meeting with the World Health Organization on issues related to COVID-19, the Ministry of Health continued to hold a detailed meeting with the Advisory Council on Vaccines and Immunization.

According to the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization, there are 3 priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination: elderly people aged 50 and over with underlying medical conditions (re-vaccinated 9-12 months after the last dose), followed by pregnant women and people who have not received any vaccine.

"Currently, we have more than 400,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine with an expiry date of September 2024, of which only 100,000 cases have registered for vaccination. Therefore, localities need to have a plan to vaccinate high-risk groups," said Dr. Hoang Minh Duc.

Regarding this issue, at the conference on implementing the work of preventing and controlling infectious diseases in 2024 organized by the Ministry of Health on January 24, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong - Deputy Minister of Health also noted that to ensure disease prevention work, localities need to register the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19, and at the same time, deploy communication to people about COVID-19 vaccination in cases that have been recommended...

To date, our country has administered more than 266.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest COVID-19 vaccine coverage rate in the world, with the rate of basic vaccination for people aged 12 and over reaching nearly 100%, and the rate of 4th vaccination for people aged 18 and over at high risk reaching 89.6%.

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