Postponing vaccination for children 5-11 years old with COVID-19 for 3 months

On the morning of April 13, the Ministry of Health had just sent a document to the provinces and cities on the vaccination against COVID-19 for people who have COVID-19. In this document, the Ministry of Health has guidelines for the vaccination against COVID-19 for children from 5 to under 12 years old, specifically for children who have had COVID-19 within 3 months, the vaccination will be delayed. . For children with COVID-19 after 3 months, vaccination is normal according to the guidelines of the health sector.

Also this morning, at a press conference on vaccination against COVID-19 for children from 5 to under 12 years old, Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan – Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine said that there are 11 patients in the whole country. 0.8 million children aged 5 to under 12 years are subject to the COVID-19 vaccine. As for the group of children with COVID-19, preliminary statistics show that an estimated 3.6 million children across the country have been infected.

If children under 12 years of age have COVID-19 within 3 months, vaccination will be delayed.

Explaining about vaccinating children after about 3 months of being infected with COVID-19, Professor Trong Lan said that children with mild COVID-19 may have an inadequate immune system, so it is necessary to vaccinate after infection to prevent disease. The time of vaccination is three months after the illness, when the child’s body has recovered and is safe for vaccination.

Also at this information session, a representative of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that the batch of vaccines given to children aged from 5 to under 12 years old has arrived in Vietnam. It is the Moderna vaccine funded by the Australian Government.

After completing the procedures such as inspection, it is expected that in the next week, children will be vaccinated. The injection will be done first for students in 6th grade, then gradually lower the age. Localities deploy brochures according to schools and locations, based on the epidemic situation and the number of vaccines provided.

Experts recommend that families take their children for vaccinations when their health is really good. When the children have symptoms of suspected COVID-19 infection, or are tired…, avoid taking them to the injection site. At the same time, parents need to fully share the child’s health status with medical staff before injecting to ensure the safety of the child.

In particular, parents need to especially closely monitor their children in the first 3 days after vaccination. In case of increased post-injection reaction, the child should be taken to a medical facility immediately.

To date, there are two vaccines against COVID-19 that will be given to children aged 5 to under 12 years: Pfizer and Moderna. The interval between the two injections is 4 weeks. The Ministry of Health requires only 2 injections of the same vaccine, not mixed with any mRNA vaccine.