HCMC – Although the Ministry of Health has not issued vaccination guidelines for children aged below 18 against Covid-19, three children in Can Tho City have received the vaccine.
Specifically, a 13-year-old girl in Thot Not District, Can Tho City, received two shots of the Pfizer vaccine on August 11 and September 4 at the Thot Not Medical Center, the local media reported.
The district also given shots to two other children, aged 14 and 17, on September 4.
Can Tho Vice Chairman Duong Tan Hien on September 14 said the municipal government had assigned the municipal Department of Health to coordinate with the Tho Not District government to clarify the case.
On the same day, Thot Not District Chairman Trinh Minh Thang said the district had received the request for clarification from the Can Tho government and was working on the issue.
The district has suspended Nguyen Kim Hai, director of the Thot Not Medical Center, from work for 15 days for vaccinating people aged below 18 without consent from the district’s steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control.
Hai was also suspended from the post of deputy head of the district’s steering committee for directing the Covid-19 vaccination.
When news about the vaccination for children aged below 18 in the district was circulating on social media, Hai explained these children were all relatives of frontline workers in the district, so the vaccination did not go against regulations.
Hai admitted that the Ministry of Health and Can Tho City had yet to issue guidelines for the inoculation of children aged below 18. However, he knew that the Pfizer vaccine could be used for children aged from 12.
The Thot Not District government has also suspended D.K.Q, a medical worker of Tan Loc Ward, Thot Not District, and aunt of the 13-year-old girl, from work as she had abused her relations to vaccinate her niece.
