Students excited to get vaccinated against Covid-19

On October 31, students from 10^th to 12^th grades in the age group of 15 - 17 in the province excitedly went to receive Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19. This round, the whole province established 44 injection sites at high schools, continuing education centers with more than 100 injection tables, ensuring safety during and after vaccination.

Injection organized thoughtfully

Right from early morning, students at the injection sites were neatly lined up in each class, divided into small groups in order to get guidance from teachers and medical staff for screening and injection in different areas. All of them were arranged to sit in rows of seats to ensure distance and order. Previously, the schools sent the list and confirmation papers of vaccination consent for parents to sign and confirm.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang, Director of provincial Department of Education and Training visits and encourages students at Nguyen Trai High School in Thuan An City before vaccination

In Thuan An City, the organization of Covid-19 vaccination for children was carefully organized by the city’s Health Center and Education and Training Department from receiving, consulting, organizing pre-injecting health checks, and administering injection and after injection. Nguyen Ngoc Truc, Vice-Principal of Nguyen Trai High School said that the whole school had 1,688 students from 10^th to 12^th grades. During the last pandemic, the school had about 100 students being F0 cases who recovered from the pandemic, so they were not vaccinated. Through propaganda, most of the remaining students' parents have registered for Covid-19 vaccination for their children. Thanks to propaganda promoted,  Covid-19 vaccination at the school received high response from parents and students.

Being present with leaders of provincial Department of Health to check Covid-19 vaccination at schools, Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang, Director of provincial Department of Education and Training said that the organization of Covid-19  was well-prepared in all phases. Most of the injections were organized at schools, so there was an airy and comfortable space for students. It is expected that schools will complete the first round of Covid-19 vaccination for students from 10^th to 12^th grades within 2-3 days.

 “Since early October, provincial Department of Education and Training has coordinated with provincial Department of Health to make a list of students in the age group for vaccination along with commitments from parents. For vaccination work to be organized safely, the department has directed schools to arrange and make separation for entrance and exit towards a airy and comfortable space, ensuring Covid-19 prevention and control for students getting vaccinated. It is expected that at least 2 weeks after administering the first shot of Covid-19 vaccine, the department will allow high-school students in the zone with the pandemic risk at level 1 to go to school directly. After that, the department will have an assessment to continue expanding for the remaining classes,” said Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang.

Nguyen Thi Le, a parent of Nguyen Trai High School students said that all parents expect their children to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to ensure their health and be eligible to return to school. Therefore, early in the morning, many parents took their children to school to get vaccinated. “All parents expect their children to complete full two shots of Covid-19 vaccines to go to school safely. Face-to-face learning will bring better learning results,” Mrs. Le said.

Talking to reporters, Huynh Thi Nguyet Phuong, Director of Thuan An city’s Health Center said that in this round of immunization for children, the city was allocated 6,300 doses of vaccine for students aged 12-17, including about 4,000 12^th graders. On October 31, the local health force will complete Covid-19 vaccination for 12th graders. This vaccination will continued being implemented in the next days. The city now has thousands of children in the age group for vaccination, but they dot not go to school or have returned to their hometowns and have not returned to Binh Duong. For these children, the locality will update their list for vaccination in the coming time.

Students and parents get excited

In the first round of vaccination against Covid-19 for students, Thu Dau Mot city is the locality with the highest number of vaccinated students compared to other localities with 12,920 children. The whole city has 9 public and non-public high schools and provincial Continuing Education Center. Schools with a small number of students will complete Covid-19 vaccination on October 31. For schools with a large number of students, they will fulfill this task on October 31 and November 1.

For schools with a large number of students such as Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted, Vo Minh Duc High School, etc., they arranged airy waiting areas for injection with enough waiting seats and a minimum distance of 2meters; arranged injection points under the one-way rule, making parents and students feel secure... Meanwhile, provincial Continuing Education Center has a total of 1,800 students vaccinated in this round. With such a large number of students, the center has divided the number of students who get vaccinated by session, by day to avoid gatherings of large crowds.

Taking her children to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted, Nguyen Thi My Duyen, whose child is in grade 12, shared: "Other members of my family have all been vaccinated against Covid-19. Only my daughter hasn't been vaccinated yet, so I'm very worried. Now, the family is assured because the child has also been vaccinated and is preparing to go to school soon. This year is her final year of high school. If online learning lasts for a long time, we are very worried."

At the injection site of Nguyen Hue High School in Phu Giao district, all preparatory steps for Covid-19 vaccination on 338 students from 10^th to 12^th grades was carried out very early. As being recorded, vaccination work here was safe and fast. Students were excited to get vaccinated, reaching 100% of total. In this round, Phu Giao district organized 5 injection sites for more than 3,200 students. Meanwhile, in Tan Uyen town, where was formerly one of Covid-19 “hot spots” of the province, also organized 4 injection sites at Huynh Van Nghe High School, Tan Phuoc Khanh High School, Thai Hoa High School and the town’s Vocational Education and Continuing Education Center with a total of more than 3,600 students. At 8 am, Nguyen Huu Trung, a 12^th grader of the town’s Vocational Education - Continuing Education Center was the first to receive Covid-19 vaccine. Trung said: “I had a bit of nervousness before getting the injection. But I was encouraged by teachers and doctors, so I felt secure…

Doctor Huynh Minh Chin, Director of Tan Uyen town’s Medical Center said that one day ago, the town’s Health Center coordinated with the local Division of Education and Training and schools to connect with parents and legal guardians to get full information about students’ health. In this round of vaccination, the town has focused on screening work before infection. Many parents brought their children's health records to vaccination sites, creating a relaxed psychology for children during the injection process.

Dr.Nguyen Hong Chuong, Director of provincial Department of Health said that there are about 180,000 people in the age group of 12-17 entitled to the vaccination in the province, using 360,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine allocated by the Ministry of Health. So far, 3.8 million people in the province have got vaccinated against Covid-19 vaccine. Among them, there have been 2.4 million people with at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, equivalent to 96 percent of those aged 18 and above. Nearly 1.4 million people have been fully vaccinated or 70 percent of the population.

Reported by Minh Duy-Hoang Linh-Anh Sang-Translated by Kim Tin