Given the positive fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has so far been put under control in Da Nang, paving the way for socio-economic activities to bounce back, the local healthcare sector has coordinated with the grassroots authorities to gear up implementing the national expanded programme on free-of-charge immunization for kids at commune/ward medical stations across the city.

A medical worker from the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control administers vaccination for a kid. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Starting from April, the Medical Station of An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District has organised primary healthcare activities for people in the condition of returning to normal.

Doctor Le Thi Kim Yen, Head of An Hai Bac Ward Medical Station, said that the number of COVID-19 patients treated and isolated at home has decreased from 500 - 600 to less than 10 across the ward, so her agency has enough staff and is ready for its professional activities.

“Currently, each month, the medical stantion organizes 2 rounds of expanded programme on free -of-charge immunization, with one from the 11^th to the 13^th days, whilst the other from the 24th to the 26th days. Supplies, biological products and vaccines in the national expanded programme on immunization are all provided at full. It is estimated that about 300 children will come to receive vaccines against many serious diseases in the coming time”, said doctor Yen.

Other local wards and communes are also taking a similar vein to implement the national expanded programme on immunization for kids.

In Hoa Hiep Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, the immunization schedule is arranged twice a month. “Due to COVID-19 disrupting vaccination activities over the past time, many families have actively registered for paid jabs against some diseases for their kids in private inoculation sites. Now, when the pandemic is under control, they continue to let their kids receive the next doses of vaccines at ward/commune-level medical stations.”, said doctor Doan Thi Phuong Thao, Head of the Hoa Hiep Bac Ward Medical Station.

Currently, vaccination against diseases tuberculosis, measles-Rubella, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Japanese encephalitis is carried out at the Hoa Hiep Bac Ward Medical Station on the 11^th, 12^th, 25^th, and 26^th days of every month.

More recently, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has required provinces and cities nationwide to urgently implement injections under the national expanded programme on free-of-charge immunization for kids who failed to receive vaccine shots in 2021 due to halts triggered by the pandemic.

Heed must be paid to carefully reviewing the quantity and expiry date of vaccines currently available at ward/commune-level medical stations and promptly proposing appropriate and effective vaccine use plans.
According to doctor Nguyen Tien Hong, the Deputy Director of the

Da Nang Department of Health, over the past time, due to the COVID-19 impacts, the national expanded programme on free-of-charge immunization for kids has been interrupted, affecting the vaccination rate of the whole city.

Following the above-mentioned direction of the Ministry of Health, the city's healthcare sector has required the district-level health centres to review and compile statistics on vaccination rates in the whole city and map out a plan to vaccinate the eligible subjects who had yet to get inoculated last year. 

In addition, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the great benefits of this free-of-charge immunization programme and the necessity in the prevention and control of diseases apart from COVID-19. The transportation and storage of vaccines and temperature monitoring according to regulations as well as the detection and handling of any arising problems must be well performed.

According to doctor Ton That Thanh, the Director of the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control (CDC), after receiving the direction of the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health, CDC Da Nang has urged its units to carry out safe vaccinations and COVID-19 prevention and control work at vaccination sites.

Accordingly, the goal of Da Nang in the programme is prevent polio from coming back. 100% of the districts maintain postnatal tetanus elimination; 95% of the children aged under 1 are fully immunised; over 90% of the children aged 1-5 are vaccinated with 3 doses of the Japanese encephalitis vaccine.

CDC Da Nang also confirms that vaccines and medical supplies for the programme are still used, so a shortage of some vaccines like before will not happen. 

CDC Da Nang regularly organises training courses on safe vaccination for staff at grassroots healthcare levels, assigns staff to be on duty to safely supervise on-site vaccination activities. During this period, it is recommended that medical units and establishments develop a plan to offer sufficient doses to kids.

In particular, heed should be paid to inoculating those from 12 - 17 months of age having yet to receive 3 doses of vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia/pneumococcus pneumoniae caused by Hib bacteria.

“During the injection process, the minimum interval between injections must be ensured as prescribed, and the strict compliance with regulations on vaccination safety shall strictly made, especially ensuring pre-vaccination health screening of kids and advising parents on how to monitor and detect early post-vaccination reactions facing their children" said doctor Thanh.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – Translating by A.THU