On September 5, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and related units and departments met to discuss measles prevention and control in the city, especially the measles vaccination campaign during the National Day holiday on September 2 at 310 commune, ward and town health stations across the city.
A prominent issue today is that the number of children screened and vaccinated in the recent campaign does not match the statistical list on the national vaccination system.
For example, in Cu Chi district, the report shows that 42% of children have not been vaccinated against measles or have not received the two doses required by the Ministry of Health.
However, during the implementation, only 52% of the 42% of children who had been screened were vaccinated. Thus, the number of children screened was too low, and among those who were screened, vaccination was not up to standard. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to promote the measles vaccination campaign in the coming time.
In Hoc Mon district, from 2019 to 2023, the whole district has 33,539 children, of which 30,890 children have been vaccinated against measles and 2,649 children have not been vaccinated.
However, from August 31 to September 5, the district only administered 405 doses of vaccine. To speed up the measles vaccination coverage, a representative of Hoc Mon district said that 60% of children had been screened and would continue to investigate unvaccinated cases in the area.
Currently, Hoc Mon district has established a vaccination team. From September 6-16, 4 teams will be sent to public kindergartens to vaccinate, and 12 commune and town health stations will vaccinate 209 groups of private kindergarten children to control unvaccinated children.
Faced with this situation, Ms. Le Hong Nga, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City CDC, said that the rate of screening children out of the total number of children in the national vaccination system has not met requirements.
Since 2015, all children have been given a vaccination code on the system, which is connected nationwide, and each ward and commune health station manages the children. Children who change their address need to update their information to ensure they are vaccinated at the right place.
This measles vaccination campaign of HCDC is based on data from the national vaccination system to retrieve the list of children needing vaccination in each district.
However, the survey results show that only 4 districts have reached about 100% of the system, while other districts have a very low number of children listed, such as Go Vap district with only 40%. This raises the question of whether the list of children has been fully compiled, or only includes a limited number of lists.
Dr. Nguyen Vu Thuong, Deputy Director of the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, highly appreciated the city's measles response plan. He said that currently, 6 districts (Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Binh Tan, District 12, District 7, Thu Duc City) account for 73% of the total number of measles cases.
Mr. Thuong emphasized that it is necessary to focus resources on solving these hot spots first to limit the spread. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, people who come into contact with measles cases should be vaccinated within 3 days to reduce the risk of contracting the disease. If infected, the disease will be milder, with fewer complications and less spread.
Mr. Thuong also commented that areas with measles outbreaks are often places with population movements, and suggested that Ho Chi Minh City urgently review this population group to conduct vaccination.
