Vietnam: Measles in Ho Chi Minh City prompts proposal to vaccinate children under 9 months of age
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the total number of measles cases reported from the beginning of 2024 to the week ending October 19 is 1,305 cases. While the number of measles cases in Ho Chi Minh City has begun to decrease, the number of cases from surrounding provinces coming to the city's hospitals for examination and treatment has tended to increase sharply in the past 2 weeks.
Since the beginning of the year, hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have treated a total of 3,139 measles cases, of which 58% came from other provinces. Specifically, the cumulative number of measles cases from other provinces is 1,834, including 1,607 inpatient cases (accounting for 61%) and 227 outpatient cases (accounting for 45%), with 1 death.
Since the beginning of the epidemic in Ho Chi Minh City, the number of children under 9 months old with measles is 315, accounting for 24% of the total number of cases. Thus, children under 9 months old are currently the group with a high risk of severe illness.
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Faced with the increasing number of new measles cases in the under 9-month age group, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has sent a document to the Ministry of Health recommending measles vaccination for children from 6 months to under 9 months old.
According to the World Health Organization, monovalent measles vaccine can be given to children from 6 months to under 9 months of age during outbreaks as an enhanced anti-epidemic measure.
This vaccine is considered the “Measles 0” vaccine and then the child continues to be vaccinated with 2 measles vaccine doses according to the Expanded Immunization Program schedule at 9 months and 18 months of age.
At the same time, the Department of Health also encourages mothers with children under 6 months old and their family members to proactively vaccinate against measles to protect children who are not old enough to be vaccinated.