Diarrhoea vaccine included in immunisation drive

LAHORE

The Punjab government has included the Rota-virus vaccine in the routine immunisation schedule of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir announced at the launching ceremony of Rota-virus vaccine, here on Friday.

The launching ceremony was attended by Minister for Specialised Health and Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafique, Secretary for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Ali Jan Khan, senior Country Manager Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr Hamidreza Setayesh, Country Representative, UNICEF Pakistan, Belgium Ambassador to Pakistan Ms Frederic Verheyden, Federal EPI Manager Dr Saqlain Gillani, professors from leading teaching hospitals and representatives from WHO and the Gates Foundation representatives in Pakistan.

The rota-virus vaccine would be the 10th vaccine to be introduced in the immunisation programme. Administered in two oral doses for children of six weeks as well as 10 weeks of age, it will help to reduce the diarrhoea-related mortality in children below five. Punjab reports around 1.2 million cases of diarrhoea annually with thousands of deaths due to diarrhoea, including 40-45 percent related to Rota-virus.

Khawaja Imran Nazir said that in the first phase, the vaccine is being introduced in six districts, including Lahore, Multan, Khushab, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin and Muzaffargarh reaching more than one million children. The vaccine will be later introduced in the rest of the province which accounts for 20 percent of Pakistan birth cohort. The Punjab launch also kicks off the national roll-out of the life-saving vaccine.

Kh Imran Nazir said “the introduction of Rota-virus vaccine is a historical moment for the Punjab. The vaccine will reduce diarrhoea-related mortality in the province by a significant margin. We are grateful to our international development partners, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and WHO for providing vaccines, as well as technical and material support for introducing the new vaccine,”.

Khawaja Salman Rafique said: “the year 2016 had been a year of successes for EPI in Punjab: Introduction of a new vaccine, a year without a polio case and validation of mother and Neo Natal Tetanus are great achievements. With innovation and enhanced supervision and monitoring, Punjab has been able to increase its routine immunisation coverage (Penta 3) from 64 percent in 2014 to over 86 percent within one year,” Kh Salman Rafique regretted that though the polio workers teams visit door to door for vaccination of children but in some cases when polio workers knock at the door for vaccination people expressed in-hospitality with them and they do not think that the workers come to save their children and they should be thankful to them.

“GAVI commends the Punjab government for its strong leadership and financial commitment to introduce rota-virus vaccine,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI, and the Vaccine Alliance. “By protecting the children of Punjab from one of the largest causes of childhood mortality, this vaccine has the potential to save thousands of lives every year. And this impact will increase significantly further once the vaccine is rolled out nationwide with GAVI support.”

Vaccination is the best way to prevent severe rota-virus disease and the deadly, dehydrating diarrhoea that it can cause.

Life-saving rota-virus vaccines needed to be introduced as part of a comprehensive approach to control diarrhoeal disease, along with other interventions, including oral re-hydration therapy, exclusive breastfeeding, zinc treatment, and improvement in water and sanitation.

Angela Kearney, the country representative of UNICEF in Pakistan said, “I warmly congratulate Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the government on this significant achievement, which means that the lives of thousands of children will be saved every year. She said that Punjab was truly showing the way for the rest of the country. The representative of international partners in their speeches lauded the efforts of the chief minister and appreciated him for taking personal interest for health sector development.

National EPI Programme Manager, Dr Syed Saqlain Ahmed Gilani, said that immunisation was one of the most powerful and cost-effective of all health interventions. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation is providing free-of-cost vaccination against nine vaccine preventable diseases. Inclusion of rota-virus vaccine, the 10th antigen will boost immunity of children against diarrhoea and significantly reduce the burden of disease among children under five.

On behalf of the Minister for State, Saira Afzal Tarar, he expressed his gratitude to all EPI colleagues and development partners who worked relentlessly to accomplish the requirements of rota-virus vaccine inclusion in the schedule.