The Ministry of Education proposes early vaccination for children 5-11 years old

Education Minister Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that opening schools is urgent, and proposed the Ministry of Health to vaccinate children 5-11 years old as soon as possible.

On the afternoon of February 25, the Committee for Culture and Education held an explanation session on the content “Teaching in the context of Covid-19”.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nga (Quang Binh delegation) asked the Minister of Education and Training to evaluate the effectiveness of school opening in such aspects as: Have localities ensured sufficient safety conditions and teaching quality; How will difficulties and challenges be solved… Meanwhile, delegate Nguyen Van Rien (Binh Duong delegation) wondered about the status of schools when opening and closing when cases of infection appeared.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son informed that after sending students back to school, the ministry sent a delegation to inspect localities. The delegation realized that the desire for children to return to school was the desire of the whole people. Localities all have response scenarios, roadmaps, plans, and rehearsals, which show their determination to send children to school.

However, right after the complicated outbreak of the epidemic, many classes had to combine face-to-face and online. The survey teams found that teachers and students have been responding calmly. But anxiety comes from society and parents.

He assessed that the school opening process also had confusion when handling cases of F0, isolation of F0, F1, lack of synchronization in the screening test process at educational institutions. To solve this, the Ministry of Education and Health has written specific guidelines.

Leaders of the Ministry of Education said that the ministry’s consistent orientation is to bring students back to school. Currently, although some places go to school and then rest, opening is an inevitable trend. As of 11 a.m. on February 25, the student attendance rate was still 88%.

“There is hardly a comprehensive plan that can satisfy everything, but in difficulties we have to choose the most possible option. The situation forces us to adapt. Some provinces have the slogan ‘only one student comes. classes are still open,’ shows the local determination,” said Son, asking the Ministry of Health to soon vaccinate children under 12 years old so that parents can feel secure.

Responding to delegate Tuyet Nga about “recommendations when students under 12 years of age go to school without being vaccinated”, Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that as of February 25, vaccinating people aged 18 and over. more than 99% of the first, 98% of the second and 32% of the third. Children 12 to 17 years old received 99% of the first dose and 94% of the second dose. The Ministry of Health has been assigned to buy about 22 million doses of vaccine to vaccinate children 5-11 years old.

“The procedure to buy vaccines for children 5-11 years old has basically been completed, we are proposing to the vaccine supplier until April 30 at the latest to accelerate vaccine coverage for children of this age,” Tuyen said. Knowing that, the Ministry of Health has and will continue to organize vaccination instructions when the batches of vaccines return to the country.

According to the Deputy Health Minister, nationwide statistics show that the rate of children under 18 years old with Covid-19 is 19%, the child mortality rate is 0.4%. Children 0-2 years old have an incidence of 3.5%; 3-5 year olds is 2.7%, 6-12 year olds is 7.9%.

Before the idea that it is time to consider Covid-19 as a common seasonal flu, he informed, the WHO leader recently commented that it is too early to consider Covid-19 as flu; and the epidemic situation is still complicated, in 2022, a new strain may appear.

After listening to the explanation of the Ministry of Health and Education, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Education Nguyen Dac Vinh assessed that opening schools is urgent, online learning is only a temporary solution. However, bringing students back to school is facing many big challenges, so Mr. Vinh suggested continuing to implement safe, flexible teaching, suitable to local practical conditions and educational institutions.

According to him, the Ministry of Health needs to study and assess the health risks for students under 12 years old, and coordinate with the Ministry of Education to have a plan to ensure the safety of unvaccinated students. The expansion of vaccination for children under 5 years of age also needs to be tested and implemented cautiously so that parents and society can be assured and supported.

After the explanation session, the Culture and Education Committee will finalize the conclusion and send it to the National Assembly Standing Committee, delegates, the Government and ministries as a basis to continue supervising teaching and learning in the context of Covid-19.

Hoang Thuy

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