Illustrative image (Photo: UNICEF Vietnam)
Hanoi (VNA) – The
(WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam have released a
joint statement ensuring that children are vaccinated during the pandemic.
The joint statement was issued on the occasion of the
World Immunisation Week that lasts from April 24-30.
According to the joint statement, with the COVID-19 pandemic dominating
attention in Vietnam and across the world, WHO and UNICEF are calling on
national and local health authorities, families and communities, as well as
development partners and the private sector to step up efforts to ensure that
children continue to receive essential immunization during the pandemic, so
that ground is not lost in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases.
If vaccination continues to be disrupted, those
diseases could return, and the world could see vaccine preventable disease
outbreaks.
The COVID-19 pandemic is overstretching health care
systems and has already disrupted immunisation services in many places
because health workers have been reassigned to the pandemic response and in
many instances, they have also been discouraged to conduct routine activities
involving physical interactions with healthy people.
Some parents are consciously avoiding health care
facilities, worried that the virus could be transmitted to them and
their babies.
At this critical time, children are missing important
milestones in their immunisation schedule and this situation could put their
health at risk.
million children are at risk of missing out on measles vaccines globally due to
the pandemic, and Vietnam is not an exception.
“We have observed in the country a decrease in vaccine
coverage and the occurrence of measles and pertussis cases in the first quarter
of 2020,” they explained.
The science proved that vaccines work. They are a safe,
effective and life-saving tool against certain diseases that can be deadly for
children. Immunisation can also protect adolescents, adults, older people, and
they keep whole communities safe.
Vietnam strives to improve immunisation services
across the country. The Ministry of Health works on the basis of scientific
evidence to build confidence, trust and demand for vaccination among
communities and to counter misinformation spread online.
WHO and UNICEF are committed to continuing to provide fact-based information on vaccines to health authorities, to the public in
general and to parents in particular with so that everyone can make informed
decisions.
While Vietnam is on a path to success in containing
the spread of COVID-19 now, the fight against that disease may continue for
years to come. It should be everyone’s priority to start planning on how we can
continue to provide essential health services – including immunization – at any
stage of the pandemic.
“We are encouraging health services to reach out, and
parents to prioritise securing vaccination to protect their children. It is
time to setup a plan for routine immunisation to return to normal while
ensuring social distancing and the safety of health workers and communities. It
is also time to work jointly to ensure that those children missed essential
vaccines in the last months are brought up to date with their immunisation. As we have learnt in other crisis, when
health workers reach families to immunise children it is also a prime
opportunity to attend to other key health interventions. UNICEF and WHO stand
ready to continue our support to the Government of Vietnam in this effort,”
the statement said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed what is at stake
when communities do not have the protective shield of immunisation against an
infectious disease.
“We need to build on past and current experiences to
better prepare for future disease outbreaks, and we must act now to develop
appropriate strategies with political and financial commitment to protect
existing and future immunisation services.
Let’s join hands to save lives with immunisations readily available to
everyone,” it concluded./.
Source: VietnamPlus
