Sindh includes rotavirus vaccine in EPI to protect kids from diarrhoea

Sindh Health Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho formally included the rotavirus vaccine in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (a routine vaccination programme) of the province by giving vaccine drops to a child at a ceremony on Friday, saying that from now onwards children would have 10 vaccines.

“As many as 50 per cent deaths of children under five years of age are because of diarrhoea, but if they are given the rotavirus vaccine, their lives can be saved,” he said while speaking at a rotavirus vaccine launch ceremony at the EPI Sindh head office in Karachi.

Pechuho said: “The government is now spending 30,000 rupees per child to save them from preventable diseases. Now it is the responsibility of the parents to get them vaccinated free of charge.”

Provincial health director general Dr Muhammad Akhlaque, EPI Sindh outgoing programme manager Dr Agha Ashfaq, National Institute of Child Health Director Dr Jamal Raza, Pakistan Pediatrics Association Sindh President Dr Khalid Shafi, EOC Sindh Coordinator Fayaz Jatoi, Nutrition Support Programme Chief Zahoor Baloch, WHO, Rotary International, Unicef and other organisations’ officials were also present on the occasion.

Pechuho stated that following a decision of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, Sindh would have to pay Rs1.4 billion annually as its share for the purchase of vaccines, and this amount would be deducted from its share in the divisible pool.

He urged the parents to get their children vaccinated as it was their money which was being spent to prevent their children from diseases. Deploring that some malicious campaigns resulted in bad publicity for the polio and routine vaccination programme after the Nawabshah incident, the health secretary said the deaths of three to four children occurred because of criminal negligence on the part of some officials, who were being taken care of.

He warned that nobody would be spared if their negligence or wrongdoing caused any damage to the vaccination programme or resulted in any health issue to any child. “I want to make it clear to the health department officials, from vaccinators to their superiors, that no negligence in vaccinating the children would be tolerated. We are trying to save children from preventable diseases and any negligence that results in the negative publicity or any health issue to any child due to negligence would not be tolerated.”

According to the health secretary, if the rotavirus vaccine is given to the children properly by maintaining its cold chain, and with honesty and dedication by the EPI staff, lives of thousands of children can be saved, and one day these children would become doctors, engineers, government officials or even the prime minister of Pakistan.

To a query, he said the health department was trying to bring polio and EPI vaccination under one umbrella and merge their resources to effectively vaccinate children in the province. In this regard, he said, a summary had been moved to the chief minister, and hoped that it would be approved soon.

Pechuho claimed that routine vaccine coverage in Sindh was 62 per cent, and the government was trying to increase it to 80 per cent by 2020. However, he added, achieving that result was not possible without the support of the parents and the media.

Outgoing EPI chief Dr Aga Ashfaq said the rotavirus vaccine was the 10th vaccine that had been included in the routine vaccination programme the province, saying that children would have two doses of the rotavirus vaccine in the 6th and 10th week of their lives.

He said diarrhoea was the major cause of deaths of children along with pneumonia in Sindh, but from now onwards, vaccines to prevent children from pneumonia and diarrhea had also been included in the routine vaccination programme.

PPA office-bearer Dr Khalid Shafi said they were delighted that the rotavirus vaccine which cost thousands of rupees had been included in the EPI, and urged parents to vaccinate their children against preventable diseases.

Sindh EOC Coordinator Fayaz Jatoi said cases of refusals to get children vaccinated against polio doubled in Sindh after the Nawabshah incident although polio had nothing to do with the deaths of children in that district. Around 30,000 parents were refusing to let their children have polio drops and they were being persuaded to cooperate.