The anti-vaccine trend has continued influencing parents in Vietnam, particularly in HCM City.

Many parents in HCM City oppose vaccinations

According to anti-vaccination theorists, vaccines consist of numerous toxic substances such as phenol, formaldehyde and MSG which can harm children. They claim vaccines can also cause autism.   

A number of Facebook groups have attracted thousands of members, with many of them expressing their concerns whether the children should be given with vaccines. Meanwhile, some others suggested that children less than two years old should not be provided with any kinds of vaccines. This will help them to develop a natural immune system.

In HCM City, besides children whose parents forget their vaccination schedule, many others are not brought to vaccination centres.

A representative from District 8’s Preventive Medicine Centre said “We came to their houses to persuade them to take their children to vaccination centres, but they refused. Some were angry with us, saying that vaccines are dangerous, and it is unnecessary.”

Dr. Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Health, said 24,224 local children had failed to have measles vaccinations due to parental objections, accounting for 8.19% of the city’s children of vaccine age. In addition, 6% of children whose parents agreed to vaccinations were not taken to the centres.

As a result, among measles patients aged more than nine months, 97% have not yet been provided with the vaccination. Rubella and measles vaccination rate in the city stood at around 85.8%.

However, paediatricians say such concerns and views are groundless, and likely to harm children far more than any real or imagined negative effects of vaccines.

Without vaccines, child mortality would increase and those who survive diseases would have to live with disabilities for the rest of their lives. For instance, 84% of children under six are at risk of dying from pertussis (whooping cough) without vaccination.

Dtinews