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Do children who have been vaccinated with the pneumococcal vaccine to prevent pneumonia need additional vaccinations against COVID-19?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung – Vice President of Vietnam Children’s Respiratory Association, former Head of Pediatrics Department of Bach Mai Hospital – asserted: If we think that “we have injected vaccines such as pneumococcal, Hib to prevent pneumonia, now there is no need for COVID-19 vaccine” is a misunderstanding .

There are many causes of pneumonia. Realtime-PCR test can detect 8 types of bacteria and 20 groups of viruses that cause pneumonia. In particular, pneumococcus is the type of bacteria that causes the most complications of pneumonia in children and the elderly. Apart from that, pneumococcal bacteria also cause many other diseases such as meningitis, otitis media, bacteremia, etc.

In addition to pneumococcal pneumonia, children with pneumonia can also be infected with Hib bacteria, staphylococci, meningococcal bacteria, intestinal bacteria…

Streptococcus pneumoniae (English name is Streptococcus pneumoniae) is a dangerous bacteria, annually claiming the lives of about 500,000 children worldwide.

There are dozens of types of this bacterium, but current pneumococcal vaccines contain only 7 to 13 of the most common types of pneumococcal antigens. This vaccine only helps the body make antibodies to prevent disease caused by this type of pneumococcus.

This means that not every pneumococcal vaccine can prevent all types of these bacteria, let alone this vaccine can replace other vaccines against pneumonia.

In young children, the group of viruses that cause pneumonia common viruses such as the RSV virus, influenza virus, parainfluenza or corona viruses including SARS-CoV-2…

According to Assoc. Prof. Dung, vaccines have certain properties, for example pneumococcal vaccine can only prevent pneumonia caused by pneumococcal bacteria (in some types), Hib injection can only prevent Hib pneumonia, but not prevent it. staphylococci, streptococci, are even less able to prevent pneumonia caused by influenza viruses, RSV, especially SARS-CoV-2.

Therefore, if you want to prevent all-cause pneumonia in your child, parents should vaccinate all the vaccines we currently have.” – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung said.

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