HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City aims to vaccinate children aged
five to 17 against in August in preparation for the next school year.
The city is seeing a slightly rising caseload due to the new contagious
BA.4 and BA.5, although intensive cases remain stable.
On July 29, the city recorded 141 new cases, while a few weeks ago it only
recorded fewer than 50 daily cases.
The HCM City Department of Health has worked with the local People’s Committee
and districts to prepare for vaccinating children in the city, before their
next school year starts in September.
Children can get their jabs at schools and other community vaccination sites.
District-level steering committees for COVID-19 prevention and control are to
carry out vaccination plans and inform parents of inoculation sites.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the HCM City People’s Committee have
instructed localities to increase vaccination rates among children to ensure
immunity, and for the vaccination programme to be completed by August 30.
Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, deputy director of the department, said that vaccination
would be very important for dealing with COVID-19 and reducing health risks for
people who get the disease.
Getting booster shots restores immunity against the disease, as vaccines
gradually wear off over time, especially in high risk groups such as children,
the elderly and people with underlying conditions.
After HCM City recorded cases of the new Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants in
early July, the number of people getting their third and fourth jabs has been
rising.
Vietnam needs to watch out for the possibility of another outbreak, according
to the department./.
Source: VietnamPlus