Measles cases increase
On the afternoon of November 13, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health announced that in week 45, the total number of measles cases in Ho Chi Minh City was 167, an increase of 29% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The number of cases from other provinces coming to the 3 children's hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases also increased by 44% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks.
The measles vaccination campaign for children aged 1-10 years old has contributed to controlling the epidemic. However, the surveillance system recorded that the number of new cases continued to increase in children aged 6 months to under 9 months. The number of cases in this age group is 274 children, currently accounting for 17% of the total number of cases in the city.
The system also recorded an increase in cases among older age groups. Currently, there are an average of 40 cases per week in people aged 11 and older, accounting for 30% of the total number of cases per week.
Missing unvaccinated children at school
Faced with the increasing number of new measles cases, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health directed the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) to survey 51 children aged 1-10 who contracted measles in week 44. There were 32 children (accounting for 64%) who had not been vaccinated against measles before contracting the disease.
The noteworthy reason is that 14 children (accounting for 27% of the total number of sick children surveyed) were not vaccinated by their families despite being invited many times and the children had absolutely no contraindications.
HCDC also noted that schools were missing out on children who needed to be vaccinated during the campaign. Two schools had not organized the vaccination campaign at all; 15 schools reported completing the campaign but still found sick children who had not been vaccinated at all.
This shows that the work of reviewing vaccination history and making a list of children who need to be vaccinated has not been done well in some schools. Therefore, the campaign has been implemented for more than 2 months with a very high reported vaccination rate, but in reality, there are still new measles cases every week in the campaign age group.
HCDC also recorded that 17% of sick children aged 1-5 years old had addresses declared on the vaccination information system in other provinces and 23% of children had no names on the system.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health requested the People's Committees of districts, towns, and Thu Duc City to direct the health center to coordinate with the education department to review the progress of measles vaccination in schools. At the same time, continue to maintain updates on the situation of migrant children in each locality.
Each locality must continue to seriously implement the activity of "going to every alley, knocking on every door, checking every subject". At the same time, strictly comply with the regulations on using the national vaccination information management system.
