Typhoid vaccination: first phase starts today

LAHORE: The first phase of Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) drive will start from today (Monday) in the province in which children of 12 districts will be vaccinated.

According to the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) spokesperson on Sunday, children between the age of 9 months and 15 years would be vaccinated in the selected districts under the 15-day long campaign.

The health department is initiating the campaign from Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan and the 12 districts have been selected due to the disease burden which is 50 per cent in the districts. The second phase of the TCV drive would start in May while from the month of March, it will be included in the Extended Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and the children would be protected from 11 dangerous diseases instead of 10. With the start of the drive, Pakistan will become the third country which introduced Typhoid vaccination campaign and the first country which is including TCV in its nationwide immunisation programme