HCM City (VNA) – Nearly 17,000 children aged 1-5 in Ho Chi Minh City got measles jabs from August 31 to September 2 as the city recently declared the contagious and serious airborne disease an epidemic.
Under the vaccination campaign carried out in 22 districts and Thu Duc city, 6,821 more children will be vaccinated on September 4.
The vaccination process has been carried out in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s regulations, according to the city’s Centre for Disease Control.
The one used in this campaign is the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine produced by the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac) which is being used in the national expanded immunisation programme.
The priority groups for vaccination in this campaign are children aged 1 - 5 living in HCM City, and high-risk children aged 6 - 16 receiving treatment at hospitals, regardless of their vaccination history.
Others are children aged 6 - 10 who have not received the full dosage of the vaccine, healthcare workers at risk of exposure to measles, and those caring for high-risk children who have not been vaccinated or have not received the full measles vaccine dosage.
The campaign is expected to contribute to protecting high-risk children who are more likely to experience severe complications from measles, such as those with congenital or chronic diseases including cardiovascular, kidney, hematological diseases, and children with immunodeficiency.
Measles can spread rapidly following an incubation period of seven to 21 days.
Medical experts have cautioned the disease can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis, otitis media, keratitis, diarrhea, and even death.
Measles can only be effectively managed when the community immunity rate reaches 95% and each individual has received two doses of the vaccine./.
