Vaccination of children carried out safely

The medical sector has been well prepared in terms of human resources, equipment and medicines to provide emergency treatment in case of adverse reactions to vaccinations.

The psychology of both parents and children is stable.

In order to ensure safety, the Ministry of Health trained medical workers on administering Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for the children as well as how to respond to reactions after inoculation. 

The ministry has also provided consultancy for parents and teachers about the organisation of vaccination at schools and guided them on how to monitor children's health after being vaccinated. 

Northern Bac Giang province started to inoculate sixth-grade pupils on April 19 after receiving 18,600 doses of Moderna vaccines, which have been approved for children between five and under 12 years old. 

The vaccination site of Hoang Van Thu Secondary School in Bac Giang province was set up with a table and two medical workers, an area to screen for children before getting vaccinated, an area designed for monitoring children's health after being inoculated and an area used for data management. 

Present at the vaccination site were medical workers from the provincial General Hospital and experts in children's health, who were sent to provide professional support during the vaccination process. 

The pupils underwent careful health screening before getting vaccinated. After being inoculated, they had their health monitored for 30 minutes, before returning to classes. 

The school has 204 sixth-grade students, however, only 60 of them are eligible for inoculation for this round of vaccination.

The school's principal Nguyen Sy Ngoc said most parents had agreed for their children to be vaccinated. 

Duong Ha Ngoc, a sixth-grade student from the Hoang Van Thu Secondary School, said: "I felt a little bit worried before getting the vaccine. And I felt a little pain when being injected but it is ok now. My family agreed for me to be administered and I myself want to be inoculated to prevent the disease."

The provincial Department of Health asked local hospitals to set up mobile vaccination and emergency teams with enough equipment, medicine and vehicles to be ready to provide emergency treatment when needed, according to the department's deputy director Nguyen Thi Thu Huong. 

Southern Dong Nai province also started to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children aged between five and 11 years old on Tuesday.

At Tran Hung Dao Secondary School in the province's Bien Hoa city, hundreds of parents and children were present from 7am to prepare for their children's vaccination. Most of the parents said the vaccination is needed to prevent COVID-19.

Tran Le Hoa, a mother of a sixth-grade student, said parents have expected their children to be inoculated against COVID-19 for a long time as they return to school and face a high risk of being infected with the virus. 

Thanks to the vaccination campaign, parents now feel more secure in letting their children back to school, she said.

Around 500 students of the school will be inoculated during this campaign.

There are more than 400,000 children aged between five and 11 years old in Dong Nai. 

In Quang Ninh province, all 119 sixth-grade students of Tran Quoc Toan Secondary School, who were the first children to be vaccinated last week when Vietnam kicked off the vaccination campaign for children, are in stable health condition, according to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Health Nguyen Minh Tuan. 

The province plans to continue to administer around 20,000 doses of vaccines for children in the age group between April 20 and 22. 

Quang Ninh has 181,000 children aged between five and under 12 years old. 

To ensure safety for children, the province organised training for medical workers who are entrusted to vaccinate the children and assigned emergency teams at each vaccination site.

Other localities, including Hanoi, HCM City, Ha Nam, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Binh Duong, Cao Bang, Hai Duong, Ha Giang, Son La and Bac Ninh provinces have also begun to vaccinate this age group.

Hanoi and HCM City kicked off the campaign to immunise the children on April 16. As of April 18, the two cities had administered around 78,000 doses of vaccines to children aged 5 to below 12 years old, starting first with six graders before moving down the age range.

As of April 18, Vietnam had injected 209,816,927 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 38,944 doses for children aged from 5 to under 12 years old (one dose).

The country has so far approved two vaccines for use on children aged five to under 12 years old, which are Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

The recommended gap between doses is four weeks. For children, both doses must be of the same vaccine.

Around 11.8 million children from five to below 12 years old in Vietnam are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

(Source: VNA)