Vietnam sets to give measles vaccination to 200,000 kids from February to April

Vietnam has set to give measles injection to the country's 200,000 9-to-23-month-old babies from February to April 2014 to prevent the epidemic from spreading. Vietnam's state-run radio Voice of Vietnam VOV on Monday quoted the announcement released by an online conference on combating measles in capital Hanoi as saying the goal of the campaign is to bring the ratio of measles vaccinated children at certain ages to more than 95 percent. In capital Hanoi, about 60,000 kids will be vaccinated against measles during the occasion, said VOV. Nguyen Khac Hien, Director of the Hanoi Department of Health said on VOV on Monday that a total of 500 suspected measles cases are reported in capital Hanoi since the beginning of 2014, with 159 cases showing positive test results with the virus. The city plans to control the plague in the coming two months. In a related movement, Nguyen Tran Hien, director of Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said in an interview with Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA that the measles occurred in 24 Vietnamese provinces and cities, and seven of them reported outbreaks. The majority of infected children in recent measles epidemic are under five years old and not vaccinated, said Nguyen Tran Hien, adding that the current measles vaccinated ratio among Vietnamese kids is 85 percent, leaving the rest of 15 percent unprotected against the disease. Nguyen Tran Hien told VNA said the ratio has been decreasing recently as many parents underestimated the danger of the disease or too worried about post-vaccination responses on their kids. These worries are baseless as the vaccine has been proven to be safe with highly effective protection, said Nguyen Tran Hien. Earlier, General Department of Preventive Medicine under Vietnam's Ministry of Health said that Vietnam has reported eight deaths and 993 other measles cases across the country since the beginning of 2014 to mid-February.