Ensuring safe measles vaccination campaigns

Responding to the 2024 measles vaccination campaign for children launched by the Ministry of Health , the work of collecting statistics and making a list of children aged 1-5 years old in many localities in Ho Chi Minh City has been completed, just waiting for the vaccine to be available to start organizing vaccination for children.

Currently, the whole country has recorded 1,695 cases of rash suspected of measles, 676 cases of measles positive. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, by the end of August 21, there were 353 cases (3 deaths related to measles), of which 50 wards, communes, towns of 14 districts and Thu Duc City had measles cases; 8 districts had 2 or more wards, communes with cases.

“The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has introduced many measures to control the spread of the disease before the new school year, such as strengthening surveillance, early detection and containment of measles outbreaks; reviewing and making lists of children to invite for measles vaccination, ensuring the organization of a safe and effective measles vaccination campaign, raising the measles vaccination coverage rate for children aged 1-5 years to over 95%,” emphasized Dr. Nguyen Hong Tam, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control.

As the only island commune in the city that has not recorded a suspected case of measles, and is not subjective about this epidemic, the Thanh An Island Commune Health Station (Can Gio District) has proactively taken many preventive measures. Dr. Luan Thanh Truong, Head of the Thanh An Island Commune Health Station, said that the station has compiled a list of 268 children (138 children in the community and 130 students). The number of children vaccinated is 196; 243 children have received 2 measles shots and 240 children have received 4 shots (BH-HG-UV); the number of children whose parents agreed to be vaccinated when organizing the vaccination campaign is 224.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Hoa, Director of the Go Vap District Medical Center, said that the center has directed 16 medical stations to review and make a list of children aged 1-5 in the area; count the expected vaccination points, organize propaganda, get consent from parents and estimate the number of measles vaccine doses. In August, when the vaccine is supplied, the district will organize vaccinations at schools for an estimated 10,000 children.

In September, 16 health stations will provide vaccinations for children who do not attend school and have not yet received vaccinations at schools. The center will also coordinate with the District Health Department to participate in pre- and post-vaccination monitoring. Go Vap District Hospital will support in-hospital vaccinations for children who are scheduled for in-hospital vaccinations or before discharge, and will also receive and handle post-vaccination reactions and serious adverse events.

On August 23, the Ministry of Health coordinated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to develop and issue a plan to implement a measles vaccination campaign in 2024 with more than 1.13 million doses of vaccine sponsored by the Australian Government through WHO. The Ministry of Health requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to pay attention to directing departments and branches to develop and issue local plans, fully allocate funding, human resources, and equipment for vaccination sites, organize vaccination sessions, and monitor and handle cases of post-vaccination reactions...

MINH KHANG

AN KHANH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/dam-bao-to-chuc-chien-dich-tiem-vaccine-soi-an-toan-post755479.html