Rapid completion of measles vaccination campaign

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan checks vaccination records at the reception area for children coming to receive measles vaccination at Hiep Hoa Commune Health Station (Quang Yen Town). Photo: Minh Ha

According to the Ministry of Health, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccination programs globally as well as in Vietnam have been affected, leading to many children missing vaccinations, including measles and rubella vaccines. In addition, temporary interruptions in the supply of vaccines in the expanded immunization program in some phases from 2022-2023 have affected the vaccination rate of vaccines, including measles and rubella vaccines. Many children have not been vaccinated on schedule or have not received enough doses of vaccines in recent years, leading to the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases returning and continuing to record new cases and outbreaks.

In Quang Ninh, since the beginning of the year, 195 cases of measles have been recorded. Of these, over 70% have not been vaccinated, over 12% have unknown vaccination history, and over 16% have received at least one dose of measles vaccine. The entire province has not experienced an outbreak like many other localities in the country.

To prevent measles, Quang Ninh has been proactive from early on, from afar, and organized a measles vaccination campaign resolutely and quickly right after receiving instructions from the Ministry of Health. As early as November 5, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 257/KH-UBND on implementing medical history checks and catch-up vaccinations for children entering preschools and primary schools in the province; The Department of Health and the Department of Education and Training issued Plan No. 5641/KH-SYT-SGDĐT dated December 6, 2024 on coordinating the implementation of medical history checks and catch-up vaccinations for children entering preschools and primary schools in the province. In particular, reviewing and catching up on measles and measles-rubella vaccines for children aged 3-6 (students at preschools and students in grade 1).

In particular, in order to increase the rate of measles immunity in the community, on March 21, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 86/KH-UBND to implement the measles vaccination campaign in 2025 in the area. To implement the plan, the whole province has established 190 vaccination teams in communes, wards, towns and at 3 hospitals: Provincial General Hospital, Obstetrics and Pediatrics, Vietnam - Sweden - Uong Bi to implement the vaccination campaign; set up 45 emergency teams on duty at hospitals, medical centers of districts, towns and cities; arranged 171 expanded vaccination points at health stations, 20 vaccination points at schools, 8 vaccination points at sub-stations. Thereby, it aims to increase the rate of measles immunity in the community to proactively prevent epidemics, reduce the incidence and mortality rate due to measles. The specific goal is to ensure that 95% of children who are eligible for vaccination and have not received or have not received enough doses of measles-containing vaccine as prescribed are given one dose of measles-containing vaccine.

After more than a week of drastic implementation, by the afternoon of March 30, the whole province had completed the target of the measles vaccination campaign for children from 6 months to 10 years old with a rate of 95.9%. In addition, the health sector continues to implement solutions to prevent measles such as: Carrying out sweep vaccinations and supplementary vaccinations at health stations across the province for subjects, focusing on screening migrant populations, ensuring vaccination coverage to create community immunity; monitoring and detecting cases at treatment facilities, implementing preventive measures, medical isolation, minimizing the impact of spreading to the community; strengthening communication work on the benefits of measles vaccination and other epidemics to improve the community's understanding of the epidemic situation...

Measles and rubella are dangerous infectious diseases caused by the measles virus and rubella virus, which can lead to serious complications that threaten the lives of children such as: pneumonia, meningitis... Children with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) can have many congenital malformations such as: congenital heart disease, cataracts, congenital deafness, developmental delay, diabetes in young children, jaundice and bleeding, seriously affecting physical and mental development. Measles and rubella are diseases that can be effectively prevented by vaccines. If children are fully vaccinated with two doses of measles vaccine according to the expanded immunization program, the risk of disease and complications will be significantly reduced. Therefore, people need to follow the vaccination schedule, practice personal hygiene and avoid contact with people with the disease to prevent the spread. When parents see their children showing signs of fever, cough, rash, they need to take them immediately to a medical facility for timely examination and treatment.

Aquarius

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/than-toc-hoan-thanh-chien-dich-tiem-vac-xin-soi-3350995.html