Children from 5 to under 12 years old who have Covid-19 should get the Covid-19 vaccine?

On the morning of April 14, in Quang Ninh, the Ministry of Health held a launching ceremony to respond to “Immunization Week 2022” and launched a campaign to vaccinate against Covid-19 vaccine for children 5 – under 12 years old.
In the morning, 200 6th graders (under 12 years old) were vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine.

Quang Ninh is the first locality in the country to give Covid-19 vaccine to children from 5 to under 12 years old. In the next week, when the Covid-19 vaccine is distributed to localities, vaccination for children in this age group will take place across the country.

Should children who are already F0 get the Covid-19 vaccine?

Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), said that according to a survey of 63 provinces and cities, it is estimated that about 11.8 million children from 5 to under 12 years old need vaccination. Covid-19.

However, among them, it is estimated that about 3.6 million children have been infected with Covid-19 and 8.2 million children are not infected with Covid-19. Therefore, in the first round of vaccination, children who do not have Covid-19 will be vaccinated first and receive 2 doses. After that, they will return to vaccinate the children who were once F0.

Regarding how long after children get Covid-19 after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, Dr. Le Kien Ngai – Head of the Department of Infection Prevention and Control (National Children’s Hospital) affirmed that parents still need to give their children Go get a Covid-19 vaccine after 3 months of infection.

“Children who have had Covid-19, can still get it again. Once a child has Covid-19, the risk of severe complications, possibly death, and post-Covid conditions, and other complications is complete. maybe.

Therefore, while the epidemic is continuing, preventive vaccines even if children already have Covid-19 continue to be needed,” said Dr. Ngai.

According to Dr. Ngai, in order to ensure safety when injecting Covid-19 vaccine for children, especially when children have had Covid-19 before, based on scientific evidences as well as published experiences of countries that have After declaring the Covid-19 vaccine for children, the Expert Advisory Council on Vaccine Use of the Ministry of Health has agreed to stipulate the minimum time for Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 5 to under 12 years who have contracted Covid-19. 19 is 3 months.

“This is the period when it is assumed that if the child has contracted Covid-19, the child will almost fully recover, and the natural protection obtained when the child is infected is also reduced, so vaccination for young is suitable.

Medical staff, when screening, will have a comprehensive assessment, advise and prescribe Covid-19 vaccine for children to ensure safety in accordance with regulations and professional guidelines,” said Dr. Ngai.

Before, sharing about whether children who are F0 should get the Covid-19 vaccine, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Minh Dien, Director of the National Children’s Hospital also said that contracting Covid-19 is bringing the virus naturally into the body. Our body and our body will react to produce antibodies to fight the virus within a certain period of time.

“According to studies, it is similar to after 3 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, the longest period of storing antibodies against the virus is 6-9 months.

Therefore, after a child has been infected with Covid-19 for 3 months or more, people can continue to give their children the Covid-19 vaccine to supplement and enhance the antibody concentration against the virus in the child’s body. , Assoc. Prof. Dien said.

Assoc. Prof. Dien also shared that in the coming trend, we do not know what other variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be encountered. Therefore, in the current period, we see that the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine is very good.

“I recommend that children with Covid-19 after 3 months, people can continue to take their children to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to increase antibody levels to fight the virus,” said Assoc.

When the children are really healthy, the families should take their children to be vaccinated. When the children show signs of suspected Covid-19 infection, or are tired, avoid taking them to the injection site. Parents should fully share the health status of the child with the medical staff before the injection to ensure the safety of the child.

What should moms pay attention to when taking their children to get a Covid-19 vaccine?

Assoc. If the child has abnormal health, he or she can be vaccinated next time, because the Covid-19 vaccine will take a long time and be injected many times.

When taking their children to the injection sites, Associate Professor Hong recommends that parents listen to medical staff for specific advice on vaccines and immunizations for children, and adhere to keeping children under observation for at least 30 days. minutes after the injection, report your child’s health status to the medical staff. When you go home, you need to monitor your child’s health after 3 days.

“According to studies, post-injection reactions usually occur 6-8 hours after injection and slowly subside. Therefore, parents who see their children’s post-injection reactions do not go back but increase, they need to report it immediately. medical staff and take the child to the doctor,” said Associate Professor Hong.

Regarding the Covid-19 vaccines given to children from 5 to under 12 years old, Associate Professor Hong also said that there are two types of Covid-19 vaccines given to children aged 5 to under 12 years old, namely the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.

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.

Particularly for the injection dose, the Pfizer vaccine has a dose of 02.ml, injected intramuscularly; Moderna vaccine injection is equal to 1/2 of the basic adult dose (equivalent to 0.25ml), the same as the booster dose of the adult vaccine, intramuscularly.