Advance the age for measles vaccination in children.

According to Dr. Duong Thi Hong, Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Head of the National Immunization Program Office, children receive their first measles vaccine dose when they are 9 months old.

Many children contract whooping cough and measles before they are old enough to be vaccinated.

Normally, children are well protected before the age of 9 because they have antibodies passed from their mothers through breast milk. However, recent clinical trials in Hai Duong showed that more than 92% of children aged 6-8 months did not have antibodies against measles.

In fact, there have been cases of children contracting measles before reaching the age for vaccination, with a rate of about 3%, and especially in the period of 2016-2017, the rate of measles among children who had not yet reached the age for vaccination increased by 20%.

In 2017, Hanoi recorded 83 cases of measles, with one child dying, nearly a third of whom were children who had not yet reached the age for vaccination.

Therefore, to protect children from measles, the expanded immunization project proposes that the Ministry of Health allow measles vaccination for children aged 6-8 months in high-risk areas during outbreaks to reduce the incidence of measles in children who are not yet old enough to be vaccinated. Calculations show that vaccination at this age provides over 88% protection.

Proposal to vaccinate pregnant women against pertussis.

Similarly, with the pertussis vaccine, the Expanded Immunization Program has also proposed to the Ministry of Health to expand the target group for pertussis vaccination, specifically to pregnant women.

"In 2017, we submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Health to adjust the indications for pertussis vaccination, considering its inclusion for pregnant women. Only after the Ministry of Health approves it can we issue recommendations to the community," said a representative of the Expanded Immunization Program.

Accordingly, studies worldwide have also shown the safety of the pertussis vaccine for pregnant women. Vaccination during this period ensures that the mother has antibodies against pertussis, which she will then pass on to her child through breast milk after birth, helping to prevent the child from contracting pertussis while waiting to reach the age for vaccination.

In fact, in recent times, many children have contracted whooping cough before reaching the age for vaccination, indicating that the immunity passed from mother to child is very weak (because the mother does not have antibodies against the disease or has not had the disease).

Additionally, in 2018, the TCMR project will also pilot the administration of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth at home in a district of Lao Cai province.

Vaccinations will be administered at the homes of new mothers, by healthcare workers who have received training in vaccination techniques, in mountainous districts where ethnic minority mothers are unable to bring their babies to vaccination sites.

Initially, the pilot project will be implemented in one district in Lao Cai province. The district health center and the provincial general hospital will provide medical support and training to enable healthcare workers to better conduct home-based screening.

"According to WHO recommendations, children vaccinated against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth, followed by three more doses as scheduled, even if born to mothers with active hepatitis B, are 95% protected against this disease. Comparisons between serum and vaccine have shown equivalent effectiveness, although serum administration is not recommended in the general public," said Dr. Hong.