Actively vaccinate children against measles

(Baonghean) - To cope with the rapid increase in measles, the Health sector advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Plan 121 on March 20 on strengthening measles vaccination and measles vaccination, actively implementing and inspecting medical facilities. Since the beginning of April, many localities have completed vaccination, and some other localities are continuing to implement...

April 18, the second day of the supplementary measles vaccination campaign in Vinh City, but the number of people bringing their children to Nghi Kim Commune Health Station for vaccination is still quite large. Wrapping his 12-month-old grandson Nguyen Hoang Danh in a thin blanket, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Lai (Hamlet 5, Nghi Kim) is busy doing the procedures for his grandson. Mr. Lai is worried: “Last night, we heard a lot on TV about children dying from measles in Hanoi, so we are very worried. His parents work far away, leaving their child with his grandparents. When he was 9 months old, he had a fever and had to skip the measles vaccination. Now that we hear this news, his grandparents will take him to get vaccinated right away”…

Understanding this concern, the doctors at Nghi Kim Commune Health Station actively encouraged Mr. and Mrs. Lai as well as many other parents to carefully screen their children. Doctor Le Thi Thu Hien, Head of Nghi Kim Commune Health Station, said: Previously, because there was a lot of information about the risk of complications and adverse effects due to vaccination, people were hesitant to let their children get vaccinated. As for the Quinvaxem vaccine, the vaccination rate was only 50%. As for the measles vaccine, the whole commune only had one case: Tran Anh Tuan (the reason was that last year, when he was 3 months old, he had a high fever and had to be hospitalized after being vaccinated. Because of the misconception, the family did not vaccinate him anymore). Recently, Tuan got measles. This is the only case of measles in the commune since the beginning of the year...

Measles vaccination

On the first vaccination day, Nghi Kim commune had 75% of the children come to get vaccinated against measles, today the remaining children were vaccinated. Through screening and examination, 20 children were not vaccinated this time because they had measles-like rash fever.

The number of children who came to Hung Dong Commune Health Station to get vaccinated against measles was high. Because most of the parents were workers, the vaccination schedule coincided with working days, so the health station flexibly organized the vaccination schedule for each hamlet. Doctor Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Head of Hung Dong Commune Health Station, said: Most of the children vaccinated against measles this time received the second dose; while the children of workers, for various reasons, only received the first dose...

Thanks to thorough training in advance, the safety of vaccination during this period was always guaranteed. At Hung Binh health station, both the station chief and the doctor were present to thoroughly screen the children. The screening form for children before vaccination was also used for the first time by Hung Binh ward and the city. During the two days of vaccination, in Vinh City, there were no adverse events, the vaccination rate reached over 90%...

Implementing Plan 121 of the Provincial People's Committee and the directive of the Department of Health, Anh Son district has a plan to vaccinate children in 21/21 communes. Doctor Phan The Hung, Director of Anh Son District Medical Center, said: From the beginning of April until now, 576/1,907 children (9/21 communes) have been vaccinated; On April 18, vaccinations were conducted for children in Trung Son and Cam Son communes, from now until the end of the month, all remaining children will be vaccinated. To ensure vaccination safety, the Center has established a mobile emergency team, on duty at vaccination sites to be ready to handle any incidents that may arise.

Up to this point, many localities have basically completed the vaccination against measles and the measles vaccination campaign such as in Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong... It is worth noting that this campaign was implemented in urgent circumstances, from the time the document was issued to the time of synchronous implementation only took place in a short time, the national target program also only supported medicine and needles, there were no other costs, but the investigation and propaganda work was organized promptly.

Assessing this additional vaccination campaign, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hong, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, affirmed: “The vaccination process of all units has complied with the guidelines of the Center for Preventive Medicine, and no errors have occurred. Some places are even flexible in working overtime, ready to organize mobile teams if children do not have the conditions to go to the vaccination center. Currently, the industry is actively promoting measles vaccination; focusing on pre-vaccination screening; directing localities to step up communication and advocacy work; directing medical centers to coordinate with general hospitals to monitor measles epidemics, have a protocol for handling post-vaccination reactions, and prepare human and material resources to prevent measles.”

From January 1, 2014 to the afternoon of April 18, 2014, the whole province had over 200 cases of measles. These patients resided in 14/21 districts, cities and towns in the province. Most of the measles patients were transferred to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital (180 patients). After treatment, 146 patients recovered, 78 patients developed pneumonia, 10 patients had to be admitted to the intensive care unit and 9 patients had to be transferred to a higher level. Up to now, in Nghe An, there has been an 11-month-old baby in Dang Son commune, Do Luong district who died of measles.

According to statistics, 85% of children who contracted the disease had not been vaccinated against measles, while the remaining 15% had only received the first dose. The province currently has 120,000 children aged 9-24 months, 88% of whom have been vaccinated against measles; The number of children who need to be vaccinated against measles this time is 33,500.

Medical experts recommend that when children have a fever, they should go to a medical facility immediately for examination and testing. In case of fever of unknown cause, they should be treated immediately at a lower-level medical facility and not transferred to a higher-level facility to avoid contracting measles right at the hospital. Only when the test results show that they have measles should they be admitted to a provincial hospital.

Article and photos:My Ha - Thanh Chung