Actively prepare conditions for vaccination for children from 5 to under 12 years old

– In order to ensure the safety and effectiveness of vaccination against COVID-19 for children from 5 to under 12 years old in the province, over time, functional sectors, especially the health and education sectors have actively prepare all conditions and plans to well implement vaccination for children.

 According to statistics of the education sector, the whole province currently has more than 110,000 children from 5 to under 12 years old who are studying at pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools in the area. In fact, children from 5 to under 12 years old are at high risk of being affected by COVID-19 when they have not been vaccinated. In the report of the Department of Health on pandemic prevention and control, as of March 22, 2022, out of a total of 42,999 COVID-19 cases being treated in the province, 11,302 patients are under 12 years old. In particular, in the recent week (from March 15 to March 22, 2022), on average, nearly 1,000 cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed each day are children under 12 years old.

An officer of the Provincial Center for Disease Control gives a COVID-19 vaccine to students of Vinh Trai Secondary School, Lang Son city at the Provincial Center for Disease Control

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Health said: It is clear that vaccination for children from 5 to under 12 years old is an important and urgent task, both the political system and the health sector are actively preparing for vaccination when the vaccine is issued by the Ministry of Health. Therefore, after the Government issued Resolution No. 14/NQ-CP, dated February 5, 2022 on the purchase of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children from 5 to under 12 years old, the Department of Health issued a Issue of Official Dispatch No. 472/SYT-NVYD dated February 25, 2022 on making a list of children aged 5 years and older vaccinated against COVID-19; at the same time, the department developed, prepared plans to vaccinate children against COVID-19 when the vaccine is given.

Accordingly, from the beginning of March 2022 until now, the health sector has organized 1 training course at the provincial level, 11 training courses in districts and city for more than 500 health workers on: instructions for pre-screening vaccination; Guide to monitoring and treating anaphylaxis after vaccination; emergency treatment at the vaccination site; referral process for children with indications for injection at the hospital and transfer when a reaction after injection occurs. At the same time, the sector developed a plan to assign human resources at injection sites and support plans of the upper levels, especially strengthening mobile medical staff for screening and first aid, to ensure that each district and city has from 1 to 3 teams ready to give first aid, handle post-injection reactions (if any) to ensure safety.

Along with the preparation of the health sector, the Department of Education and Training also actively coordinated to implement this activity. Ms. Phan My Hanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training said: in order to prepare for the vaccination against COVID-19 for ages 5-11, the Department has requested units to thoroughly understand and propagate guidelines and policies of the Party and State, the directives of the Government, Provincial People’s Committee, Department of Education and Training and People’s Committee of district and city on vaccination against COVID-19 to all administrators, teachers, staff, students and parents. Along with that, the department direct the divisions of Education and Training to survey and proactively propose vaccination sites, creating the best conditions for the vaccination to take place smoothly.

Students from Hoang Van Thu High School, Lang Son city get vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Provincial Center for Disease Control

Currently, school units are reviewing and making a complete list of children and students of vaccination age by class (until the end of March 2022); coordinating with health authorities and students’ parents to make an initial assessment of the child’s health status, especially, paying attention to children with underlying medical conditions, obesity, etc… to have a vaccination plan to ensure safety for children and students. Thereby, the department aimed to create consensus among parents for children to fully participate in vaccination.

Mr. Duong Van Tiep, Lan Got village, Tran Yen commune, Bac Son district said: I have a small child who is in grade 1 and is at the age of vaccination, so over the past time, I have actively learned about the benefits and effects of the COVID-19 vaccine on children’s health. At the same time, after being consulted by the school, teachers and medical staff, I understood the benefits of vaccines in disease prevention and control and supported giving this vaccine to my children.

Up to this point, the units are ready to deploy the campaign to vaccinate against COVID-19 for children from 5 to under 12 years old to ensure safety with highest effectiveness. The benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of not getting vaccinated. Therefore, parents should choose to vaccinate their children to protect them against the risk of disease.