One year after declaring a measles outbreak, 22 wards and communes in District 1, District 4, and Cu Chi District now meet the criteria to be declared free of the epidemic.
The number of measles cases is trending upwards rapidly, with scattered reports across the area, mainly among people who have not been vaccinated or have not received a full course of vaccination.
Following the declaration of a citywide outbreak, with cases reported in 22 districts, Ho Chi Minh City began implementing a measles vaccination campaign for all children in the city.
The current burden on pediatric hospitals at the highest level in Ho Chi Minh City is the high number of patients being referred, which increases the risk of infection and turns them into "measles distribution centers".
According to Mr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, declaring a measles outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City requires assessment and consideration based on many factors.
Since the beginning of the year, hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have recorded three child deaths related to measles; all three had chronic illnesses that led to severe complications.
According to the Ministry of Health, the current situation regarding measles and whooping cough in some provinces and cities is complex, and localities need to strengthen prevention and control of infection.
The rate of children in Ho Chi Minh City receiving the first and second doses of the measles vaccine is very low, while the supply of free measles vaccine is interrupted and it is unknown when it will be available again.
Simply because they believed the advice shared by many people on social media, many young mothers will regret for the rest of their lives not having their children vaccinated against measles, causing the children's illness to worsen.
Parents' failure to vaccinate their children significantly impacts disease transmission, as this is a major source of hidden disease spread within the community.
The measles situation in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and many northern provinces and cities, while not as serious as in 2014, has seen an increase in the number of cases compared to the same period in 2018.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tropical Diseases Hospital reported that this is the first year the hospital has received such a high number of measles cases in both adults and children.
Regarding the potential outbreak of infectious diseases due to many mothers following the anti-vaccine trend and not having their children vaccinated, Dr. Tran Van Phuc (Xanh Pon General Hospital) stated that a sufficiently strong legal mechanism is needed to compel people to vaccinate their children; only then can this problem be solved.
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