‘There is no substitute for vaccination’

During World Immunisation Week, experts urge parents to play their role

Parents should not compromise on their children’s immunisation as it saves the kids from illness, disability and death, said paediatricians in a statement issued on Saturday during World Immunisation Week. The event is celebrated during the last week of April.

National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) Member Dr Muhammad Ashraf Sultan said vaccines are one of the best methods of intervention to prevent deaths and to reduce the burden of disease on children.

“Vaccines are also considered to be a major tool in eradicating diseases such as smallpox, polio and measles,” he stated.

Through the country’s national programme, vaccines are provided to citizens free-of-charge. “It is estimated that vaccines save approximately three million lives each year on a global scale, he revealed.

“Unfortunately, around 19.5 million infants around the world are still missing out on basic vaccines,” he said. If herd immunity is not maintained, vaccine-preventable diseases will return, he explained.

In Pakistan, rotavirus leads to one out of three infant hospitalisations. “Almost every child gets infected with rotavirus by their fifth birthday,” he said.

Polio vaccination drive was not cancelled, says PM's adviser

Moreover, pneumococcal meningitis is the most common form of meningitis and is the most serious form of bacterial meningitis. Children – as young as a few months old – are at risk of contracting pneumococcal meningitis, he said.

Similarly, polio is an infectious viral disease that can cause irreversible paralysis while measles is a contagious disease which results in high fever and rash and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death, he highlighted. Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver, he added.

Paediatrician Dr Sajid Maqbool also stressed the need to vaccinate children. “Vaccinations can reduce the usage of some antibiotics, in turn tackling the threat of antibiotic resistance,” he said.

Vaccines activate antibodies which help to fight off a potential threat without giving you the disease. “They trick the body into triggering the immune system so that when we are exposed to the disease in future, our body is ready to fight it off,” he added.

Vaccines are the most affordable solution when it comes to preventing certain health hazards.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2019.