The Ministry’s Health Strategy and Policy Institute has recently conducted an online poll that indicates 60.6% of parents with children under 12 agreed with the need to inoculate their children against COVID-19. Roughly 29.1% of the respondents said they were considering the plan, whilst just 1.9% of polled parents said they did not agree.
According to Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, head of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, if vaccinated children aged five to 11 years old show fewer symptoms and milder symptoms than adults in the event that they are infected.
“Vaccination for children is of great significance as it helps limit infection and reduce transmission of the virus to family members, especially those at high risk,” said Lan, pointing out that infection is more common among unvaccinated children.
Furthermore, he said the Pfizer vaccine that will be used for child immunisation has been approved by the WHO and the Food and Drug Administration of the United States, as well as the European Medicines Agency.
The vaccine will therefore be given to children in this age group via two injections, at an interval of eight weeks apart. Each jab contains 10 micrograms of the COVID-19 vaccine, one third of the dose given to those aged 12 and older.
Pfizer reported last year that clinical trials of its vaccine in more than 2,000 children aged five to 11 showed the vaccine was “safe, well tolerated” and “it showed robust neutralising antibody responses.”
More than 40 countries worldwide have now approved the vaccine for children aged five to 11, with three quarters of them having carried out the vaccination plan.
“Vaccination against COVID-19 for children aged five to 11 will help children to be more confident when they engage in other activities, such as attending school or participating in outdoor activities,” said Prof. Dr. Lan.
Official data released by the Ministry of Health indicate that more than 95% of students between the ages of 12 and 18 have received their first jab, with 88.5% having now received their second jab.
The Ministry of Health is detailing procedures for COVID-19 vaccination of children aged five to 11 to ensure physical learning will be safe as soon as they return to school after months of online learning due to the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, said Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has granted approval to the Ministry of Health’s proposal to purchase 21.9 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to inoculate children in this age group. The PM requested that the Ministries of Health and Education work closely together to ensure the vaccination campaign will take place in a safe and effective manner.
