Experts Suggest Expanding The Scope Of Vaccination For Young Children With Epidemic Situation In Fujian

Since September 10, the confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in Fujian Province have been increasing for many days, distributed in Putian, Xiamen and Quanzhou. On September 16, MI Feng, spokesman of the National Health Commission, said at a press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council that more than half of the newly diagnosed cases in this round of epidemic are teachers and students of kindergartens and factory employees in primary and secondary schools, and the site clustering infection is obvious.

According to the flow survey, the epidemic in Fujian was infected by family members and spread from students to schools. Experts said that the epidemic first found in schools, young children infected more, this part of the children did not inject the new crown vaccine, there is a more serious risk of disease.

Since the middle of July, China has begun to deploy new crown vaccination for minors. The 21st century economic report reporter learned from the above press conference that as of September 15, more than 170 million doses of vaccination had been given to people aged 12-17 in China, covering 95.287 million people. However, there are still many children who have not been covered.

Wang Huaqing, chief expert of immunization program of China CDC, also pointed out that it is suggested that people who meet the vaccination conditions should be vaccinated as soon as possible. Only when more people are vaccinated can its role be truly brought into play. People under the age of 12 who have not been vaccinated should also be considered for vaccination.

The infection was obvious

According to the National Health Commission, 80 new confirmed cases were reported from 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and Xinjiang production and Construction Corps from 0:00 to 24:00 on September 15. Among them, 31 imported cases (22 cases in Yunnan, 3 cases in Guangdong, 2 cases in Shanghai, 2 cases in Sichuan, 1 case in Zhejiang and 1 case in Shandong) were imported from abroad, including 4 cases transferred from asymptomatic infection to confirmed cases (2 cases in Sichuan, 1 case in Zhejiang and 1 case in Guangdong); There were 49 local cases (48 in Fujian, 38 in Putian, 8 in Xiamen, 2 in Quanzhou; 1 in Yunnan, in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture), including 9 cases of asymptomatic infection.

According to the above data, Fujian Province is the majority of the epidemic cases, and more than half of the newly diagnosed cases are teachers and students of primary and secondary schools and factory employees, and the site clustering infection is obvious.

Experts from the working group sent by the National Health Commission to Fujian said that the epidemic situation was first found in schools. Young children were infected more, and these children were not vaccinated with the new crown vaccine, so there was a risk that the disease was more likely to be serious.

The first positive case was found in Xianyou County, Putian City, Fujian Province, when 10% of the students in school were regularly checked for nucleic acid every half a month.

At the above press conference, Wan Lijun, deputy director of the Department of sports, health and arts of the Ministry of education and a first-class inspector, introduced that the epidemic situation was infected by family members and spread from students to schools. The policy of "timely sampling" is a system established in Fujian Province in October 2020. All students returning to school are classified as "timely sampling" population. Schools are required to take 10% of the returned students every 15 days for nucleic acid detection, which is carried out in a cycle, so as to ensure that all returned students receive a nucleic acid test within five months.

On September 11, 36 new coronavirus nucleic acid positive cases were found in Putian, Fujian Province. Among them, there are 15 primary school students, all from Fengting Putou primary school. On September 12, another confirmed case was found in Putou primary school. As of September 13, 22 students in the primary school were nucleic acid positive.

It is reported that at present, the close contacts and all teachers and students of Putou primary school have reached the designated isolation point.

In this epidemic, schools have become a center of transmission, and nucleic acid positive cases have also appeared in many schools, causing widespread concern. Putian City Education Bureau issued a notice on September 11, pointing out that schools all over the country should increase the second dose of vaccination among students aged 12-14 to improve coverage. Before September 15, we will fully complete the vaccination of teaching staff and students aged 12-17.

On September 15, according to the Ministry of education, more than 95% of teachers and students over 18 years old are vaccinated with two doses of vaccine, and 91% of students aged 12 to 17 are vaccinated with two injections, according to the Ministry of education.

Peng Zhiyong, director of the Department of critical care medicine of Central South Hospital of Wuhan University, said in an interview with the media that many of the infected people in Yangzhou and Putian before this outbreak were those who had lagged behind in the vaccination work, such as the elderly and children. This also shows the importance and urgency of expanding the scope of vaccination.

The task of expanding vaccination area is urgent

It is worth noting that the United States, on the other side of the ocean, is also facing a sharp increase in the number of new confirmed cases of pneumonia in children during the school season.

According to the data released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday, the infection rate of new coronavirus in American children has increased exponentially since July, with nearly 500000 new cases in the past two weeks, according to local media reports.

In the past week, AAP reported 243373 new confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in children. Although this is down from 251781 cases reported last week, the number of confirmed cases in children has increased by about 240% compared with the 71726 cases reported in early July. As of Thursday, nearly 5.3 million children had tested positive for the new coronavirus, accounting for 29 percent of the reported cases nationwide, the AAP said.

Why are there so many infections in children in the United States? Is it suggested that we should speed up the promotion of new crown vaccination for minors?

Previously, Wang Huaqing, chief expert in immunization program of China CDC, also responded to this question. Wang Huaqing pointed out that in the early period of the new epidemic, the infection rate of children was relatively low. At present, with the global pandemic of Xinguan, especially the continuous transmission in some countries, the infection rate of children is rising. There are three main reasons for the rising rate: first, the highly infectious delta virus strain is prevalent in many countries.

Second, because vaccination starts from the elderly and key groups, children's vaccination has not been formally put on the agenda, or vaccination is late, so the proportion of children with immunity is relatively small.

Third, the current prevention and control measures have been adjusted, including the relaxation of non vaccine prevention and control measures, which has led to an increase in the current infection rate of children.

China has always attached great importance to the research and development and vaccination of new crown vaccines for juveniles, including sinopharma group and Kexing biology. Since the middle of July, China has begun to deploy the new crown vaccine for minors and carry out the vaccination work for 12-17-year-old population in batches.

Lei Zhenglong, a first-class inspector of the disease control bureau of the National Health Commission, said that as of September 15, China had reported more than 2.16 billion doses of new crown vaccine, and more than 1 billion people had been vaccinated throughout the whole process. Among them, people aged 12-17 have been vaccinated more than 170 million doses, covering 95.287 million people. More than 390 million doses have been given to people over 60 years old, covering more than 200 million people. China's total dose of vaccination and the number of people covered ranked first in the world, and the population coverage rate ranked first in the world.

"The more people are vaccinated, the greater the protective effect of the vaccine. More than one billion people have been vaccinated in the whole process, which has laid a certain foundation for us to control the epidemic of Xinguan epidemic," Wang Huaqing pointed out.

Wang Huaqing also stressed that at present, we cannot relax our vigilance. "On the one hand, the delta virus variant is very infectious; on the other hand, there are still some people in the elderly and young people who have not completed the vaccination. We suggest that those who meet the vaccination requirements should be vaccinated as soon as possible. Only when more people are vaccinated can its role really play. Also consider the people under 12 years old who have not been vaccinated, Vaccination should also be considered. "

However, it is worth noting that at present, many enterprises are developing the new "special drug" and have made some progress. For example, recently, the combination therapy of tengshengbo new crown neutralizing antibody brii-196 / brii-198 has achieved positive mid-term results in the international phase III clinical trial, and it maintains the neutralization effect on the major mutant strains, including the "delta" which is currently rampant in the world The mutant strains, the newly discovered and highly harmful "ramda" and "Miao" mutants, etc.

Yan Li, chief medical officer of tengshengbo pharmaceutical, analyzed to the reporter of the 21st century economic report that the vaccine can be produced on a large scale, with convenient inoculation and low cost, which is a good prevention method. However, for people with low immunity, the vaccine may not achieve the desired effect, but neutralizing antibody is very effective for these patients.

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