Many children get measles because parents 'forget' to vaccinate their children

At the seminar “Measles: Small injection - Great protection”, according to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, as of June 18, Ho Chi Minh City has recorded 25 cases of measles, with the majority of cases being children who have not been vaccinated against the disease.

Most children with measles have not received enough doses of vaccine.

At the seminar, Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, Head of the Social Work Department, Children's Hospital 1, said that if measles breaks out into an epidemic, it will be most severe in the risk group (children who are not old enough to be vaccinated and children who have not received 2 doses of vaccine). According to Dr. Khanh, if it breaks out into an epidemic, the health sector will have difficulty fighting it because in addition to measles, this is also the season for dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease.

Children with measles

TN

MSc. Dr. Le Thi Hong Nga, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, said that to prevent the epidemic, the most important factor is that children must be vaccinated. The ability to spread measles is very high, if in a nursery there is a child with the disease, children who have not been fully vaccinated with 2 doses of measles vaccine will be infected. Of the 25 cases of measles to date, 8 cases are not old enough to be vaccinated and 14 children have not received any doses.

Regarding the vaccination rate in Ho Chi Minh City which has not reached 95%, according to Master, Doctor Le Thi Hong Nga, the problem here is that parents and relatives forget to take their children for vaccination, leading to disadvantages for the children.

"We should take some time to get our children vaccinated. Not only measles, but when we checked the children's vaccination records, many other vaccines were missing, such as whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus. These are all very dangerous diseases. Most children who have not been vaccinated are because their parents forgot, made up excuses, or moved but did not report to the local authorities or health authorities, so they were not invited to get vaccinated," said the Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control.  

Similarly, according to Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, some parents who forget to vaccinate their children against measles have lost the child's rights. Children are born with the right to be protected from disease in many different ways, including vaccination.

“Children cannot speak, cannot raise their hands to ask for vaccination, it depends entirely on the parents. If parents forget for some reason, they are not responsible for the child,” Dr. Truong Huu Khanh shared.

Education sector coordination to control epidemic

MSc. Dr. Le Thi Hong Nga, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, said that at the ward and commune level, there are still some localities where up to 1/3 of children have not been vaccinated. When investigating the reason, medical staff said that many families invited them to get vaccinated but they said they were busy or gave other reasons to avoid it.

In addition, through surveys of the risk of outbreaks in some localities, 10-40% of children are not on the management list of the health station. Because parents move in without reporting to the locality, the health station does not know and does not invite them, leading to many children not being vaccinated.

Currently, vaccines are fully available. If families do not want to use vaccines in the expanded immunization program, they can choose service vaccines. According to Ms. Nga, the important factor is the interest of parents in taking their children for vaccination.

Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health is directing the implementation of supplementary and catch-up vaccinations for children. At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health is planning to approach kindergartens and ask parents to submit their vaccination records to teachers to know whether their children have been vaccinated.

Through nurseries and childcare groups, coordinate with local education departments to investigate the vaccination history of children in schools. Children who are missing vaccines will be encouraged to receive catch-up and catch-up vaccinations.

As for children in immigrant areas and boarding houses, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health will mobilize community health collaborators to reach out to families.  

“If you meet community health workers in your residential areas, don’t hesitate. Share your children’s vaccination schedule with them and they will advise and guide you to go to the health station for vaccination,” said the Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control also disseminates information about vaccination to each residential area through the health station's communication network so that people can know and bring their children to the station for consultation and full vaccination.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tphcm-nhieu-tre-mac-soi-do-cha-me-quen-dua-con-di-tiem-vac-xin-1852406241731143.htm