Raising public awareness about safe vaccination

On July 10, Tuoi Tre Newspaper, in collaboration with the VNVC Vaccination Center System, organized an online discussion and exchange on "Safe vaccination - Raising community awareness".

The event was organized to raise public awareness about safe vaccination, answer questions about whether vaccination affects children's natural immune system; how pre-vaccination examination and post-vaccination monitoring will be carried out; why children need to be vaccinated with enough doses and on schedule...

Scene of the online discussion and exchange. (Photo: Le An)

The program features guest speakers who are leading experts in the field of vaccination and preventive medicine .

Opening the discussion, Mr. Vo Hung Thuat - Director of the Media Service Center, Tuoi Tre newspaper said that fully vaccinated people will be more confident in interacting with the community and have more opportunities in work and life.

However, the important role of vaccination does not mean that we do not pay attention to vaccination safety. On the contrary, we must pay more attention to safety factors, through preservation, vaccination quality, etc.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Viet Dung, Deputy Director of the Drug Administration, people are no strangers to vaccines and vaccinations. Since 1981, the expanded immunization program has been opened, providing many opportunities to fight dangerous infectious diseases, and is an important part of basic care, for adults and children to fight against diseases.

Mr. Le Viet Dung believes that the event with the participation of many colleagues in the medical field will bring a lot of knowledge about vaccination safety.

At the seminar, experts all affirmed that vaccines are biological products that provide active immunity against specific infectious diseases. However, for vaccines to be most effective, we need to ensure the correct and safe vaccination process.

Ms. Dang Thanh Huyen, Deputy Head of the National Expanded Immunization Office, said that the number of vaccinations has never increased so rapidly in recent times. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 8 million people have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Ms. Huyen emphasized: “To ensure vaccination safety, all medical staff must be trained in vaccination. Parents need to cooperate in fully declaring their children’s vaccinations and monitoring their children’s post-vaccination reactions.”

According to Dr. Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of VNVC Vaccination Center System, the safe vaccination process includes 7 steps: classifying customers, waiting for screening examination and monitoring by screen outside the clinic, screening examination, paying at the cashier, guiding customers to the vaccination room, being vaccinated and monitored on-site for 30 minutes.

Dr. Chinh said: "After the customer leaves, we still keep in touch to monitor the reaction. In the vaccination book, there is also a hotline for customers to call back in case they need to be monitored. We also have a team of doctors to handle this problem."

To ensure vaccine safety to medical facilities in the areas, the transportation stage needs to be strictly and tightly controlled.

Dr. Luu Thi Dung, Deputy Head of the Department of Quality System Management, National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, said that there are two types of vaccines: imported and domestically produced. In order to have vaccines in circulation, the production stage has been strictly controlled and closely monitored.

Imported vaccines will be granted a certificate of circulation. When the vaccines arrive in Vietnam, they will be thoroughly inspected. Damaged vaccines will be discarded. Self-produced vaccines will also be strictly controlled before use.

Ms. Ngo Thi Tuyet Suong, Quality Director of VNVC Vaccination Center System, said that VNVC Vaccination Center System has equipped a cold chain to preserve vaccines in three regions, each region has a storage warehouse, each vaccination center has its own refrigerator, in the cold storage, the preservation work is very strict from 2-8 degrees Celsius.

Nowadays, the proportion of people interested in vaccination is increasing. Specifically, every year the whole country performs an average of about 40 million vaccine injections for children, the elderly, pregnant women... So how can people know that the vaccine is safe and at the right time?

Mr. Pham Quang Thai - Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Control, Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that it is necessary to pay attention to the communication stories of medical workers. Each injection point is not only a place to welcome people but also a communication activity.

He shared: "If we are negligent, we will see expired vaccines, wrong injection routes... Ensuring vaccination safety is to protect ourselves and protect each person who is vaccinated."

According to Mr. Thai, to ensure safe vaccination, medical staff need to strictly follow the procedures for using vaccine materials correctly - safely - in the right dosage. In particular, people who are vaccinated need to be monitored and clearly report any post-vaccination reactions. This is extremely important and needs to be closely monitored.

Experts share at the seminar. (Photo: Le An)

At the end of the discussion, Mr. Vo Hung Thuat affirmed that vaccination safety has special significance in motivating people to participate in vaccination and thereby contributing to building a healthy community.

It can be said that the entire process of safe vaccination is not only directly related to the vaccinator and the vaccination facilities, but is also a prerequisite for maintaining and surviving the national vaccination system.

Vaccination - The Untold Story

Tuoi Tre Newspaper, in collaboration with the VNVC Vaccination Center System, is organizing a writing contest called "Vaccination - Untold Stories". This is an opportunity for people to share their stories, inspire and raise awareness about the importance of vaccination in protecting public health.

The organizers said the contest is open to everyone aged 16 and over, regardless of nationality or occupation. Officials and employees of Tuoi Tre newspaper and Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) are allowed to write articles in response to the contest but will not be judged.

Regarding capacity, the entry must be a short article in Vietnamese, maximum 800 words, with works that include images, photo series or illustrative video clips encouraged.

The content is a story related to the topic of "vaccination" and the importance of vaccination in maintaining and improving public health, such as a beautiful memory of your vaccination or that of your loved ones.

Memories of how you considered and made the decision to vaccinate; your personal feelings and experiences during and after vaccination, or the effects of vaccination on your personal life and the community around you.

Participants have two ways to submit their entries: send an email to [email protected]. In the email, you need to provide full personal information: name, age, country, email address and contact phone number; or go to the contest's website at tuoitre.vn, then fill in the information and download the file containing the entry as required.

Good entries will be selected by the organizing committee and published in Tuoi Tre publications (the selected entry does not mean it will win a prize).

Submission period: from June 10 to July 30, 2023, any work submitted after this deadline of July 30, 2023 will not be considered.

Entries will be judged by a panel of judges including medical experts, journalists, and social influencers.

The awards include 2 special prizes worth 30 million VND/prize; 10 first prizes worth 10 million VND/prize; 15 second prizes worth 5 million VND/prize; 20 third prizes and 100 consolation prizes.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/nang-cao-nhan-thuc-cong-dong-ve-tiem-chung-vaccine-an-toan-234091.html