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In our country, the trend of children contracting COVID-19 is increasing rapidly. According to the Ministry of Health, at the beginning of August, up to 5% of total cases in Hanoi were children aged 0-5. Fortunately, there have been no deaths.

From mid-August until now, every day, Ho Chi Minh City has to treat 1,900-2,900 cases of Covid-19 among children, especially on September 5, a record high with 3,106 children. As of September 7, the number of F0 children being treated is 3,052.

And according to statistics from the Ministry of Health, as of early September, Ho Chi Minh City has treated about 14,800 children under 16 years old with COVID-19, of which 12,000 have recovered, while more than 2,800 cases are being treated. There were 13 cases of child deaths, accounting for 0.1%. Most of these cases have underlying diseases, in which there are very serious cases such as cancer.

The most common cause of infection in children is infection from adults who are parents, relatives, and caregivers. So when the rate or risk of adult infection is high, it is also difficult for children to avoid it without the best protection measures.

Symptoms of COVID-19 in children

Children infected with the disease may also experience common symptoms like adults including symptoms of severe pneumonia, shortness of breath, shortness of breath, … but there is a difference, if adults have prominent symptoms of muscle pain, Rheumatoid arthritis is less common in children, but in contrast, the initial signs are usually very high fever (39-40 degrees), with additional symptoms of cough, respiratory tract inflammation, nausea, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.

Most children with Covid-19 have mild symptoms, with or without symptoms. Eligible children will be isolated at home, monitored by a doctor, and examined remotely. Children with moderate or higher symptoms, respiratory failure, at risk of severe progression, or with underlying medical conditions (cancer, chronic kidney failure, hemophilia, obesity, heart and lung diseases, …) must be hospitalized for monitoring.

Why should children be vaccinated?

All ages need vaccines, and so do children. Vaccination against COVID-19 will help children reduce the risk of infection, especially for children who are obese, young, have underlying diseases of the heart, lungs, etc. If the immune system is weakened, infection will be very dangerous.

Vaccination in children is also a weapon to reverse the spread of COVID-19 in the community because children, like adults, can be a source of infection for people around if they become F0. In addition, vaccinating children also helps the community to prevent other variants from appearing.

Another reason, when children are vaccinated, children will have the opportunity to integrate into society, friends, continue to go to school to live, study and play instead of now having to stay at home all day – this may affect the child’s development.

The situation of vaccinating children in the world, and in our country

Countries such as the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and Israel have rushed to deploy the COVID-19 vaccine for children since June.

Research has shown that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 100% effective in preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus in children aged 12-15 years. Another study showed that a group of 12 -17 year olds who received the Moderna vaccine produced immunity against SARS-CoV-2 similar to that of the 18-25 year old group.

However, there is no safe vaccine against COVID-19 for children under 12 years old, and so far, in the US and Europe no vaccine has been licensed for use in children under 12 years of age. The reason is that in countries that do not have enough research data, research time, and do not have many conditions to expand vaccine trials on children.

Currently, only two countries allow vaccination for children from 3 to 17 years old: the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and China.

In our country, in the middle of this year, the Ministry of Health had a meeting with the manufacturer of the Pfizer vaccine – a vaccine indicated for use in vaccinating children 12-17 years old, reaching an agreement to provide 20 million doses. It is expected that 9 million children 12 – 17 years old in our country will be vaccinated as early as October, if later it will be around November – December.

What do parents need to do?

Prevention is the main measure

• Actively implement 5K in the family, encourage and remind children to comply. For young children who do not know what to do, parents should actively help children from hand hygiene, to wearing masks properly. , avoid close contact with others.
• Give your child all the necessary vaccinations according to the schedule and age to ensure that the child has a healthy immune system. And the parents themselves also actively inject 2 full doses of COVID-19 vaccine for themselves to avoid getting infected and infecting their children.
• Clean the house, regularly disinfect surfaces, toys and objects that children often touch and hold. It is best to advise children’s teeth, monitor and remind them in time when children put their hands on their eyes, nose and mouth.
• Ensure adequate nutrition for children, reasonable diet to increase children’s resistance

When a child shows signs of illness

When a child shows signs of cough, fever, difficulty breathing, runny nose, fatigue, loss of appetite, etc., it is necessary to take the child to a medical facility for timely advice, diagnosis and treatment. Or if that doesn’t work, you can call the hotline of the Ministry of Health or the local health team. The doctors will give us advice on what to do and whether the children need to see a doctor or be hospitalized, as well as how to monitor the symptoms in children, which symptoms should be reported as soon as they appear. high fever that does not go down, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, cyanosis, loss of consciousness, etc.

Reference sources: Tuoi Tre Newspaper, An An Dan Newspaper, Lao Dong Newspaper, VN Express, Can Tho Children’s Hospital Portal