A child waits to be vaccinated at a health facility in HCM City. — Photo the HCM City Centre for Disease Control

HCM CITY — Routine immunisation of children has resumed in HCM City, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, after being temporarily halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the HCM City Centre for Disease Control (HCDC).

HCDC earlier this month asked community health centres and health facilities citywide to resume the expanded immunisation programmes amid the declining cases of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalisation, said Nguyễn Hồng Tâm, deputy director of HCDC.

Parents and child caregivers must strictly implement COVID-19 preventive measures when visiting the health facilities for immunisation services, Tâm said at a meeting on Monday.

Despite a wide disruption in the delivery and uptake of immunisation services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, immunisation services for infants have been maintained at obstetrics hospitals, including vaccines against tuberculosis and hepatitis B.

HCDC regularly supplies vaccines against tuberculosis and hepatitis B and closely monitors the delivery of these vaccines.

The delayed vaccination schedules for one or several months will not largely affect a child’s immunity, he said.

He called on parents to take their children to health facilities to complete routine immunisations.

As of October 10, the city had administered more than 7.06 million first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and 5.22 million second doses, according to HCDC. —VNS