A student is vaccinated against COVID-19 in HCM City. The city will focus on vaccinating children aged five to 17 in August before the new school year. – (Photo: sggp.org.vn)The city is seeing a slightly rising caseload due to the new contagioussub-variants Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, although intensive cases remain stable.
On July 29, the city recorded 141 new cases, while a few weeks ago it onlyrecorded fewer than 50 daily cases.
The HCM City Department of Health has worked with the local People’s Committeeand districts to prepare for vaccinating children in the city, before theirnext school year starts in September.
Children can get their jabs at schools and other community vaccination sites.
District-level steering committees for COVID-19 prevention and control are tocarry out vaccination plans and inform parents of inoculation sites.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the HCM City People’s Committee haveinstructed localities to increase vaccination rates among children to ensureimmunity, and for the vaccination programme to be completed by August 30.
Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, deputy director of the department, said that vaccinationwould be very important for dealing with COVID-19 and reducing health risks forpeople who get the disease.
Getting booster shots restores immunity against the disease, as vaccinesgradually wear off over time, especially in high risk groups such as children,the elderly and people with underlying conditions.
After HCM City recorded cases of the new Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants inearly July, the number of people getting their third and fourth jabs has beenrising.
Vietnam needs to watch out for the possibility of another outbreak, accordingto the department./.
VNA
