Hanoi to observe WHO Immunisation Week this June

Hanoi will observe the WHO Immunisation Week this June with a call for improving vaccines that are effective in preventing infectious diseases and joining hands to protect the community.

The Immunisation Week aims to raise public awareness of the importance of vaccination. (Photo: VNA)

The information was released by Dang Duc Anh, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), at a conference held in Hanoi, on June 12^th.

Anh said the week is carried out this month with a view to increasing the effective implementation of the national expanded vaccination against infectious diseases.

The week, to be held from June 24^th to 30^th, is a practical event aimed at raising public awareness of the importance of vaccinations and call on further participation and investment from the authorities, agencies and organisations at both home and abroad.

According to NIHE’s report, the immunisation coverage of different types of vaccines in Vietnam, over the first three months of this year, saw encouraging progress: the hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth reached 16.9%, higher than the same period in 2017 (16.2%).

The number of whooping cough cases in January-March was reduced in comparison to the same period in 2017. No diphtheria cases were reported in the reviewed period (five cases recorded in the first quarter of 2017).

Particularly, in February 2018, the measles-rubella vaccine produced by Vietnam was utilised for children in Nam Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Dak Nong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces.

As a result, 7,787 children aged 18-24 months received vaccination and no serious reaction cases were recorded after that.

The national vaccination information management system has been operated nationwide with more than 11,000 vaccination sites at medical stations in communes and wards.

Training courses for vaccination workers were held.

The Immunisation Week was initiated in 2011 by the World Health Organisation. Some 180 countries and territories worldwide have joined the event.

VNF