`On behalf of parents and health sector staff, I urgently request the President and the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegation to propose to the National Assembly and the Government to soon include vaccination for children in the national vaccination program.
The conference was held online, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the Hanoi bridgehead and Chairman of the City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegation, chaired the city gate.
According to Mr. Hung, from the beginning of October until now, when the city returned to a new normal state, the hospital received many calls from parents wanting the health sector to vaccinate children.
Two babies quarantined with their families at the dormitory of Ho Chi Minh City National University, June 2021.
Citing experience from the US, Dr. Hung said that in previous epidemics, children in this country were less affected, but with the Delta variant, only the last 2 weeks of September recorded 500,000 children getting sick because schools opened.
Also according to Mr. Hung, Vietnam has about 25 million children, of which Ho Chi Minh City has about 1.8 million children aged 5-18 years old.
The leader of Children’s Hospital 1 added that the US has vaccinated children 12-17 years old.
Sharing the same opinion, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, Director of Hung Vuong Hospital, requested the Central Government to soon deploy vaccination for children in the Covid-19 vaccination program because the effectiveness of the vaccine in the community has been demonstrated.
According to Ms. Tuyet, Hung Vuong is a large obstetrics and gynecology hospital during the outbreak in the city, and was divided into 2 areas for normal patients and Covid-19 patients.
Specifically, in early August, the number of pregnant women hospitalized for Covid-19 reached 40-50 cases per day and about 10 patients required invasive ventilation.
The leader of Hung Vuong Hospital said that currently, Vietnam has not implemented Covid-19 vaccination for children under 18 years old according to instructions from the Ministry of Health.
`Vaccinating children has been proven safe and effective. Therefore, I propose that the Central Government soon deploy Covid-19 vaccination for children to protect the country’s future generations,` Ms.
Responding to petitions from voters in the health sector, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said the ministry is developing guidelines and is expected to start vaccinating children 12-17 years old in October, then expand age groups.
With a large amount of Pfizer vaccines coming to Vietnam in the near future, Mr. Thuan said that during his recent visit to Cuba, the President made a request and Vietnam is waiting for his country to soon send documents on vaccines for children for consideration.
According to Mr. Thuan, there will be no shortage of vaccine supplies from now until the end of the year, expected to be at least 120 million doses.
Sharing the same concern about vaccination for children, Dr.