UNECEF: Viet Nam should get routine immunization for children back on track
VGP - The Government of Viet Nam is making efforts to get the routine immunization for children back on track. UNICEF looks forward to seeing Viet Nam return to the strong child and adolescent immunization system it had built before the pandemic, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to Viet Nam.
In Viet Nam, more than 251,000 children missed out on one or more doses of DTP through routine immunization services in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic - Illustration photo
More than 251,000 children missed out on one or more doses of DTP through routine immunization services in 2021 - almost fourfold increase compared with 63,001 in 2019.
At present, 52 out of 63 provinces in Viet Nam have failed to meet the required target of reaching 90 percent of children below one year old receiving all recommended routine vaccines.
To address backsliding on routine immunization, Viet Nam has been planning and implementing catch-up immunization in low coverage areas, Flowers said.
For instance, the country has conducted supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) on MR and bOPV for children aged 1 to 5 years old. Thus, 144,448 children received one MR dose and 141,866 received additional doses of bOPV this year.
The UNICEF Representative to Viet Nam urged parents to be assured that catching up the recommended vaccines for their youngest is essential – if preventable deaths are to be avoided.
Monumental efforts will be required to reach universal levels of coverage and to prevent outbreaks worldwide. Inadequate coverage levels have already resulted in avoidable outbreaks of measles and polio in the past 12 months, underscoring the vital role of immunization in keeping children, adolescents, adults, and societies healthy.
First dose measles coverage dropped to 81 per cent in 2021, also the lowest level since 2008 globally. This meant 24.7 million children missed their first measles dose in 2021, 5.3 million more than in 2019.
A further 14.7 million did not receive their needed second dose.
Similarly, compared to 2019, 6.7 million more children missed the third dose of polio vaccine and 3.5 million missed the first dose of the HPV vaccine- which protects girls against cervical cancer later in life.
The sharp two-year decline follows almost a decade of stalled progress, underscoring the need to not only address pandemic-related disruptions but also systemic immunization challenges to ensure every child and adolescent is reached./.
