Preparing to vaccinate against Covid-19 for children, what should parents pay attention to?

The Hanoi People’s Committee has just issued a plan to vaccinate children against Covid-19. Accordingly, the capital will carry out simultaneous vaccination for children in the area, the group under 12 years old will be vaccinated first, then gradually reduce it according to the schedule of vaccine supply.

According to the Department of Health, about one million children 5 to under 12 years old need vaccination during this period. The city makes a list of children who need vaccination, and then injects them as soon as they are allocated vaccines.

Similarly, on April 4, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City also has a plan to vaccinate children aged 5-12. It is expected that 898,537 children need this injection, of which, 885,730 children go to school and 12,807 children are cared for at social protection facilities and children have not yet attended school. The city will organize the injection right after the vaccine is provided by the Ministry of Health and is expected to be completed before September.

Children go to injection school at the school or the injection site decided by the local health and education institution, while the child does not attend injection school at a fixed or mobile injection site. Particularly, children undergoing inpatient treatment at hospitals are vaccinated right at the hospital, including children with residential addresses in other provinces and cities.

On the afternoon of April 5, Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that the first batch of vaccines is expected to return to Vietnam on May 10, with the quantity of about 2.3 million doses of Moderna vaccine.

Illustrations

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children were approved by the Ministry of Health on March 1 and 31, respectively. In which, Pfizer vaccine is for children from 5 to under 12 years old, each dose of 0.2 ml contains 10 mcg of vaccine; Moderna vaccine for children 6-11 years old, each dose of 0.25 ml contains 50 mcg of vaccine mRNA. Both vaccines have a two-dose regimen.

The question that many parents are concerned about today is what to prepare when their children are vaccinated?

Answering this question, Dr. Dr. Pham Quang Thai, Head of the Northern Expanded Immunization Office, said:Parents should not be too stressed, but need to create a comfortable psychology for children before vaccination and closely monitor after vaccination.

Accordingly, in order to avoid fear of children, parents should clearly explain the benefits of vaccination, keep children psychologically comfortable, voluntarily vaccinate and live as usual.

At the vaccination session, children should eat a light meal before vaccination, drink enough water, wear comfortable clothes to facilitate vaccination.

In fact, over the past time, the Expanded Immunization Program has recorded many students with post-vaccination reactions. According to experts, the cause is largely due to the child’s psychology and chain reaction of anxiety.

“Therefore, parental comfort in vaccination is also important because fear can be transmitted to children. Ideally, parents should discuss with the child about the injection process, possible side effects, monitoring time… At the injection site, if being next to the children, parents should reassure the child so that the child does not have excessive anxiety reaction when injected,” said Thai doctor.

In addition to creating psychological comfort for children when injecting, monitoring children at home after injection is also extremely important. Dr. Thai doctor said, children 5-11 years old are mostly hyperactive, do not know how to express discomfort or abnormalities of the body.

“Meanwhile, post-injection reactions can appear at any time, possibly at night when the whole family has gone to sleep. Therefore, parents need to closely monitor, pay attention and encourage their children after the injection,” said Dr. Thai BS information.

Statistically, possible side effects in children include pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, diarrhea, rash, urticaria at the injection site, rash at the injection site. injection site… Reactions are varied and can be confused with other disease symptoms.

Therefore, experts warn that when the child’s body has abnormalities that do not necessarily follow the instructions, parents should consult a doctor and take their child to the nearest medical facility.

In particular, if the child is having an acute or chronic disease such as fever, infection, cancer chemotherapy, multi-organ inflammation (usually manifested by fever, rash, red eyes…) until cured.

Thai doctor recommends that children with a history of allergies, cognitive disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome… should be cautious when injecting. Children with chronic congenital heart disease, abnormal heart and lung screening, etc. should be taken to hospitals at the district level or higher for vaccination.

N. Huyen