Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – The rate ofchildren vaccinated against measles in Ho Chi Minh City is now at 76.2 percent,well below the recommended level of 90 percent plus.
According to Nguyen Tri Dung, head of themunicipal Preventive Health Centre, the rate is higher than previous yearsthanks to the expansion of vaccination services in addition to Vietnam’sexpanded programme on immunisation (EPI).
However, the service has its shortcomings.Counsellors at centres offering the service often advise parents to wait untiltheir babies are 12 months old to take the 3-in-1 measles-mumps-rubella shot.The first vaccine shot against measles is supposed to take place at nine monthsold and the second at 18 months old under Ministry of Health guidelines.
The delay has led to a large number ofvulnerable under-12-month-old children, resulting in a recent surge in measlesinfections. From August 2018 to date, some 3,000 children have contracted thedisease, 30 percent of them under one year old without vaccination.
The HCM City Health Department has toldthese centres to deliver correct advice on measles vaccination, which coversthe first shot when the child ages 9 months.
The city began providing the 5-in-1 ComBeFive vaccine for under-one-year-old children as part of the EPI last month. Twoweeks after the provision of the new vaccine in Tan Phu district and District6, 66 children have taken the shot. The vaccine will be offered in morelocalities in the city in the near future.-VNA
VNA
