HCMC – The HCMC Department of Health plans to start administering a Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 16 and 17 in districts 1 and Cu Chi tomorrow, October 27, before expanding the vaccination campaign to other parts of the city.
At a virtual child vaccination safety training course on October 26, Hung said the Department of Health would work with the education authorities of the two districts to check if they meet safety requirements, the local media reported.
The two districts were chosen for the vaccination of children following a proposal of the municipal Department of Education and Training.
Cu Chi Chairwoman Pham Thi Thanh Hien said the district had completed preparations for the vaccination of children.
Tomorrow, children in the district will get the Covid-19 vaccine at six vaccination sites at schools near hospitals or medical stations.
The district has some 51,100 children aged between 12 and 17 and will firstly vaccinate 11,000 children aged 16 and 17, mainly high school students.
District 1 has also made a list of children aged 16 and 17 and will conduct the vaccination once the municipal Department of Health issues guidelines. Vaccination sites are expected to be located in schools, and children with underlying health conditions will get their shots in hospitals.
The district has some 23,000 children aged between 12 and 17.
The vaccination campaign will cover some 780,000 children aged from 12 to 17 citywide, Hung said, requiring inoculation units to ensure safety for children and anti-pandemic measures.
The city will administer the first dose to children within five days, firstly those aged 16 and 17.
The HCMC Department of Health on October 25 wrote to the HCMC Pasteur Institute proposing administering the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to children aged between 12 and 17.
The department also proposed the institute provide training for health workers in charge of inoculating children pending the Ministry of Health’s guidelines.
Earlier, the municipal anti-Covid steering committee asked the municipal Department of Education and Training to make a list of students from grades six to 12 and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to make a list of children who do not go to school and are in schools and centers under its management.
In related news, as of October 25, 92.13% of parents in HCMC have agreed to get their children vaccinated against Covid. The rest have been hesitant or opposed to the Covid vaccine.
Hoc Mon had the highest vaccine acceptance rate, at 98.79%, among parents while District 7 had the lowest acceptance rate, at 79.18%.
The rate was 91.86% in Thu Duc City, which has the highest number of children aged between 12 and 17, at nearly 92,200.
In this vaccination campaign, 450 schools may be used as vaccination sites.
