Vaccination drive kicks off on April 24

EPI official says vaccinations will protect kids against 12 infectious diseases

RAWALPINDI:

The District Health Authority is all set to start the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) to prevent 12 infectious diseases among children of two years and pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years to protect newborns from these diseases.

The programme will start on April 24 and will conclude on April 30 in the Rawalpindi district.

District Health Officer Dr Ehsan Ghani said that the District Health Authority is working to protect children from infectious illnesses so that they may live healthy and productive lives.

He said that children who did not receive the vaccination will be vaccinated by the door-to-door teams. A number of centres will be set up in the government hospitals and dispensaries to provide vaccination, he said, adding that some of the infectious diseases include tuberculosis, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, and rubella.

EPI incharge Chaudhary Muhammad Hussain said that the vaccination programme is essential to protect children from infectious illnesses and all the necessary arrangements have been made to launch the programme.

“Parents should cooperate with the teams of the health department as the teams would visit door-to-door. The parents must show their children's health cards to teams to confirm whether they have been vaccinated or not,” he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)'s expansion of immunization programmes to prevent infectious diseases was planned by the Punjab government.

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According to experts, the fifth wave of coronavirus has recently emerged, becoming extremely significant. If children under the age of two have been injected to prevent 12 different diseases, they will have strong immunity and will be able to fight disease when they grow up, they said, adding that therefore, parents should get their children vaccinated.

Swarms of mosquitoes besiege cities

Swarms of mosquitoes have besieged the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, forcing the residents to stay indoors as the bite of an infected mosquito can cause serious diseases such as dengue, and malaria.

The District Islamabad Administration has also issued a health and hygiene advisory asking the people to take all precautionary measures to protect themselves and their children from mosquito bites.

A resident of Margalla Town said that the authorities concerned should take serious notes of the higher number of mosquitoes in the city as it can result in the outbreak of dengue. "We have lost thousands of precious lives to dengue during the last years and we do not want this disease to attack us again," he stressed.

A security guard in I-8 Islamabad said he works the nightshift and it's very difficult for him to protect himself from mosquito bites. "I was using mosquito repellent lotion, but these insects are stubborn as mules. The only way to get rid of them is to light a smelly and smokey fire," he said.

A shopkeeper in Gulraiz-I said that buzzing mosquitoes have embittered them, their children are getting ill but the administration has taken no measures to address the issue. He called the authorities to spray fumigation of mosquito repellent in their area to control the growth of nasty mosquitoes.

Additional input from APP

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2022.