To complete first-dose vaccination for 15 to 17 year olds

During four days, the Covid-19 vaccination for young teens from 15 to 17 years old including high school students and students of vocational schools, educational institutions, social protection centers, and children of this age group living in the province took place quickly and safely due to the close cooperation between education, health, labor and war invalids agencies.

Fast and safe injections for young teens

By November 3, all nine districts, towns and cities in the province basically completed the vaccination for children from 15 to 17 years old, of which the majority are high school students in grades 10, 11 and 12. Tran Sy Nam, vice chairman of Thu Dau Mot City People's Committee, said the city gave 12,569 Pfizer doses to children aged 15 to 17, including students of high schools, vocational training centers, and children of this age group who do not go to school and live in the city. According to the plan, the city will be allocated 66,000 doses of the vaccine for children aged 12 to 17. The city also made a list of about 53,000 children aged 12 to 14 who are ready to be vaccinated when more vaccines are allocated.

Health workers vaccinate students of grade 12 at Nguyen Trai High School, Thuan An City.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Trong An, Chairman of Ben Cat Town People's Committee, said that thanks to careful preparation, on November 1 and 2, the town basically completed vaccination for children aged 15 to 17 years with 7,693 doses of vaccine allocated. The town is also checking and making a list of about 19,000 children from 12 to 14 years old to propagate and encourage people, parents to sign a consent for their children to be vaccinated and ready to vaccinate as vaccines are allocated.

Thuan An City has also basically completed the injection of 6,300 doses allocated to children aged 15 to 17 years. Huynh Thi Nguyet Phuong, Director of Thuan An City Medical Center, said that the organization of vaccination for children was carefully prepared by the city, thus it took place quickly and safely. The city has about 4,000 children of grade 12 at high schools who were injected during this time. The city also has thousands of children, who are of this age group and do not go to school or have returned to their hometowns and will also be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Pham Van Bay, Vice Chairman of Di An City People's Committee, informed that the city has about 26,000 teens between the ages of 12 and 17. On November 2nd, the city completed injections for more than 6,000 out of the 6,853 children between the ages of 15 and 17. On November 3, the city completed vaccinations for high school students between the ages of 15 and 17 and will strive to complete the vaccination for children in the whole local community. Some injectable-age children who have not returned to Binh Duong will also be considered for injections after they return. In addition, more than 19,000 children between the ages of 12 and 14 are being listed to prepare for vaccinations when the vaccine is allocated.

Students in safe areas could soon return to school

Nguyen Thi My Hang, Secretary of Phu Giáo District Party Committee, said that by the afternoon of November 2, the district had also completed the injection of 4,725 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 15 to 17 years old who are high school students and children in the community, educational and vocational training institutions... The district is also reviewing a list of about 1,870 children aged 12 to 14 who are ready to be vaccinated when the vaccine is allocated. In addition, the district is also updating the list of students who have graduated from high school and who have passed university entrance exam for additional injections.

Similar to Phu Giáo district, Dau Tieng, North Tan Uyen, Bau Bang Districts and Tan Uyen Town has also basically completed vaccination for high school students, vocational school students, social protection establishment students between the ages of 15 and 17. Some localities are continuing to vaccinate the remaining children in the community.

According to the plan, on November 3, the province will complete the first-dose vaccination for children aged 15 to 17 throughout the area. For children returning to their hometowns who have not been able to receive injections in this period, parents need to contact their schools and local government to register additional injections for their children when they return. According to the plan of the provincial education and training authority, two weeks after the first dose, it will be piloted for high school students in leveI-1 risk areas to go to school, then will expand to other levels of education.

Nguyen Hong Chuong, director of provincial Department of Health, said there are an estimated 180,000 children aged 12 to 17 in the province and the department has asked the Ministry of Health to allocate 180,000 doses to vaccinate children. Up to now, the province has received more than 3.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, including more than 2.3 million first and nearly 1.6 million second doses. The province has given more than 61,000 doses to 15- to 17-year-olds.

Reported by Minh Duy – Translated by Ngoc Huynh