Ho Chi Minh City has many measles outbreaks in schools, how to protect children?

To prevent the spread of measles, many districts and Thu Duc City are speeding up the implementation of measures to prevent measles.

Urgent vaccination for children

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, since the start of the new school year, there have been five measles outbreaks in four primary schools in Binh Chanh District, District 7, Tan Phu District and Thu Duc City. Most of the students who contracted measles had not received all the necessary vaccinations.

On the morning of September 12, Pham Hung Primary School (Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) and Binh Hung Commune Health Station (Binh Chanh District) coordinated to vaccinate students. At 8:00 a.m., students lined up neatly, while medical staff prepared vaccines, checked vaccination records, and conducted screenings.

Ms. Nguyen Le Bich Loan, principal of Pham Hung Primary School (Binh Chanh District) - said that the school has recorded a student suspected of having measles. Ms. Le Thi Kieu Ngan, head of Binh Hung Commune Health Station, shared that the health station has instructed the school to clean and disinfect the children's learning environment.

"This morning, the station coordinated 9 staff and 8 collaborators to vaccinate about 600 students. The health station also screened children at kindergartens, invited them to participate in vaccination according to the vaccination schedule, and went to each school and each house to propagate disease prevention and control," said Ms. Ngan.

What to do to protect children?

Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh Chau - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health - commented that the number of measles cases continues to increase but the vaccination progress in localities is still quite slow. There are districts that do not organize or organize very few vaccination points at schools.

Mr. Chau noted that during the measles epidemic, children have clinical symptoms such as fever and rash, so it is necessary to organize to handle the outbreak immediately, without waiting for positive test results to prevent the epidemic.

Statistics from May 22 to present in Ho Chi Minh City are 581 cases, of which 531 cases were hospitalized, about 75% of sick children have not been fully vaccinated. Currently, the Department of Health mobilizes private facilities to participate in the measles vaccination campaign. After 10 days of implementing the campaign, 19,821 children aged 1-5 years old have been vaccinated against measles, reaching 32.6% of the total number of children required to be vaccinated.

Two private companies have registered to participate in the free measles vaccination campaign according to the health sector's instructions. It is estimated that the number of children aged 1-5 who have not received enough measles vaccine doses in Ho Chi Minh City is 60,733, and the number of children aged 6-10 is 63,303.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-xuat-hien-nhieu-o-dich-soi-o-truong-hoc-bao-ve-tre-ra-sao-20240912223152791.htm