Currently, the province has developed a covid-19 vaccination plan for children aged 5 to 11. Accordingly, the province has more than 288,000 children aged 5 to 11, with the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses for first and second shots expected to be more than 576,000 doses.
The vaccination of Covid-19 for children from 12 to 17 years of the province has been safe and convenient. In photo: To vaccinate children from 12 to 14 years old in Thu Dau Mot City.
It is necessary to vaccinate children from 5 to 11 years old
There are many families who are hesitant about whether or not to vaccinate their children against Covid-19 at an early age. Many people think that Covid-19 at children is like the common flu, has vaccine special symptoms, so they refuse to inject Covid-19 vaccine. In this regard, Dr. Huynh Minh Chin, Deputy Director of Provincial Department of Health, said that when suffering from Covid-19, regardless of age, the disease has symptoms ranging from asymptomatic, symptomatic to severe hospitalization, death. For children, the fact shows that children also have prolonged clinical symptoms, including acute complications of Covid-19. There are even cases of polysystem inflammation in children, inflammation of other organs. The assessment of post-Covid-19 syndrome is also common for children with common long-term effects, affecting their academic performance.
"In addition, children infected with Covid-19 may continue to be a source of infection and transmission to adults who are not vaccinated. Many documents show that children at risk of obesity, congenital pathologies, preterm births, underweight have a high risk of death, especially when not vaccinated against Covid-19. Parents should not hesitate to vaccinate their children against Covid-19, even young age group. If be vaccinated, when infected with Covid-19, children will have fewer symptoms as well as milder symptoms than adults," said Dr. Huynh Minh Chin.
Dr. Huynh Minh Chin informed that covid-19 vaccine does not affect the genetics or reproductive system of children. Currently, the only vaccine used for children in Vietnam is Pfizer-BioNTech. The mechanism of this vaccine as entering the body does not enter the genome, only enters cytoplasm, combines to create antibodies, does not penetrate directly into the DNA, so the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insists that it does not cause mutations, does not affect reproduction. As with any vaccine, after being vaccinated, children also have the usual reactions after vaccination. Parents need to collaborate with medical workers to assess the level of reaction of children to be able to handle situations in a timely manner.
The education and training sector is ready
To implement the vaccination schedule for children from 5 to 11 years old, Provincial Department of Education and Training coordinates with Department of Health to count the number and organize vaccinations as guided by the Ministry of Health. Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang, Director of Provincial Department of Education and Training, said that education branch disseminated and fully implemented the guiding documents and guidelines of the Central, the province and medical branch; collaborated with other branches for the effective and rapid implementation of covid-19 vaccination for students and for officials, teachers in educational institutions in the province.
Tan Uyen Town has a large number of preschool children, primary school students account for a large number and most of them are children of workers. Tran Anh Dung, Deputy Head of the Town Education Training Office, said that the education branch has soon stepped up propagation among parents about the benefits of vaccination for children aged 5 to 11, so most parents agreed with this policy. Currently, schools have been collecting opinions of parents about covid-19 vaccination for their children.
Meanwhile, School Board of Phu My Primary School (Thu Dau Mot City) said that the school has more than 2,300 students, according to the survey, 85.6% of parents agreed to vaccinate their children. At Tuy An Primary School (Thuan An), the school has also prepared for the vaccination for students. After collecting opinions of 2,185 parents, 95% of parents agreed to inject their children with Covid-19 vaccine.
It can be said that the policy of injecting preschoolers and primary school students with Covid-19 vaccine has received approval from parents. Nguyen Hong Loan in Dinh Hoa ward (Thu Dau Mot City) said she has 2 children, 1 preschool child, 1 primary school child. "Adults and students aged 12 to 17 have received two to three shots of Covid-19 vaccines, while 5- to11-year-olds have not been vaccinated, we are a little worried when our children go to school, as there is still a risk of infection. As the schools carried out opinion polls, I agreed immediately without hesitation."
Preparing for the covid-19 vaccination campaign for students from 5 to 11 years old, Provincial Department of Education and Training has reminded and instructed units and schools to propagate, check and statistics the number of preschool children and primary school students aged up to 11. Schools also collected opinions of parents on this policy. In addition, schools also actively prepared material facilities, coordinate with parents to take their children to vaccinate, assign teachers to assist the vaccination, helping the province to complete the goal of vaccinating children from 5 to 11 years old as planned.
Reported by Hoang Linh, Hong Thai – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
