Measles epidemic increases in many localities
Recorded at Hoa Nhai General Hospital, Hanoi, recently there have been many children hospitalized for measles. According to doctors, children with measles are mainly unvaccined subjects with weak antibodies. In the first 3 days, the child of Ms. Luu Van Trang (Tay Ho District, Hanoi) showed signs of a fever of 40 degrees Celsius. Despite using many measures to reduce the fever, the child still did not improve. On the 5th day, seeing her child showing red spots, red eyes, and a nose showing signs of bleeding orange, Ms. Trang gave her child a blood test and discovered that her child had measles. Right after her child got measles, Ms. Trang quickly took her child to the hospital for treatment. After 4 days in the hospital, Ms. Trang's son had cough suppression and better appetite.
In Ho Chi Minh City, many children are hospitalized for measles, including severe cases with dangerous complications. Recorded at the Department of Infectious Diseases - Neurology of Children's Hospital 1, there are about 75 cases of inpatient measles being treated, of which, there are about 10 cases with severe ventilator, CPAP. Number of outpatient examination and treatment cases is 20-30 cases/day. Up to 90% of pediatric patients were transferred from provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ben Tre...
According to Dr. Du Tuan Quy - Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases - Neurology, Children's Hospital 1, there are 3 main reasons for hospitalizing children for measles, including children who have not been vaccinated against measles, children who are not old enough to be vaccinated but have been infected by others and parents who do not vaccinate their children. Notably, most hospitalizations have complications, the most common of which is pneumonia, accounting for nearly 80% of cases.
According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, in week 10 (February 28 - March 6), Ho Chi Minh City recorded 276 measles cases with addresses in the city, down 12.2% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The total number of measles cases accumulated from the beginning of the epidemic to week 10 of 2025 is 7,601 cases. Districts with high numbers of cases until October 2025 include Binh Chanh district, Binh Tan district and Thu Duc city.
Measles does not disappear, just wait for the opportunity to break out
The Ministry of Health warns of the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, especially measles, in the context of erratic weather changes. Although preventive measures have been implemented since the end of 2024, the number of cases is still high and may continue to increase.
Measles epidemics tend to decrease but have not ended, many cases of suspected measles rash fever are still recorded nationwide, especially in mountainous provinces, where medical conditions are limited and vaccination rates are low. However, thanks to drastic measures such as zoning, suppressing the epidemic and increasing vaccination, the situation is still under control, aiming to control the epidemic and limit the spread.
Dr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Disease Prevention (Ministry of Health) said that the Ministry of Health has implemented an expanded vaccination campaign for children aged 1-10 in high-risk localities, and proactively arranged vaccine sources, although according to regulations, the procurement of vaccines is the responsibility of localities. Currently, the vaccine has been fully arranged for both the vaccination, catch-up vaccination and catch-up vaccination campaigns in 48 provinces and cities, and expanded to 17 other localities.
The report of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology shows that many provinces are implementing the vaccination campaign slowly, with more than 10 provinces achieving less than 50%, 2 provinces have not been vaccinated. The main reason is due to problems in budget allocation, although the Ministry of Health has provided enough vaccines. Approving plans, organizing training, and purchasing consumer supplies has slowed down the vaccination progress compared to the rate of epidemic spread.
Currently, the Ministry of Health has provided enough vaccines and can rotate between programs, but many provinces have not yet completed the necessary procedures. By March 2025, only 25 provinces have plans to vaccinate children aged 6-9 months, while the implementation steps are still prolonged.
In the face of rapidly increasing cases, localities need to urgently speed up the vaccination progress to control the epidemic in a timely manner. "The vaccine in the expanded immunization program has been arranged in full until December 2025, ensuring timely vaccination, catch-up vaccination and catch-up vaccination. WHO has supported 1.2 million doses of vaccine for the first phase of the vaccination campaign, including an expanded vaccine for children aged 6-9 months. On March 17, the Ministry of Health received 500,000 doses of measles vaccine donated by Vietnam Vaccination Joint Stock Company (VNVC). All vaccines have been transferred to localities, the rest is to organize safe vaccination implementation," said Dr. Hoang Minh Duc.
