890,000 children to be vaccinated against typhoid

Experts say vaccine is effective and safe

PESHAWAR:

As many as 896,724 children from the age of nine months to 15 years would be vaccinated under the 12-day anti-typhoid vaccination drive in Peshawar that would continue till October 15 in 52 urban union councils.

During the vaccination drive, 633 outreach teams, 82 fixed teams and 30 mobile teams would administer the vaccine while the drive would be supervised by 144 first level supervisors and 51 medical officers and district administration and health department officials are also involved in the day-to-day operations of this campaign.

It was revealed during a review meeting held here with Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Shafiullah Khan in the chair.

The meeting discussed ongoing anti-typhoid campaign in depth and it was noted that typhoid is a dangerous disease that can be fatal.

It enters the body of children through a bacteria present in contaminated water and food and affects their intestines.

It was revealed during the briefing session that in severe cases of the disease, intestinal perforation can occur, which can lead to death, adding that the bacteria is very common in our environment and became resistant to common antibiotics during the last five years.

It was said that currently there were only two antibiotics that could kill this bacteria effectively, but both drugs were extremely expensive.

Typhoid fever rate is very high among children, especially between nine months and 15 years and millions of children suffer from it every year across Pakistan.

The vaccine being administered to the children is very effective and would help save lives of children.

It was explained that there were no side effects of this vaccine however the injection could cause mild pain or fever which is nothing to worry about.

Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Shafiullah Khan urged parents to get their children vaccinated against typhoid during the 12-day campaign and collaborate with health department teams to make complete eradication of typhoid from Peshawar.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (Relief) Muhammad Imran Khan, Deputy Director (PSRA) Rahimullah Mehsud, District Health Officer Dr Muhammad Idris, EPI Coordinator Dr Muhammad Arif, N-Stop Officer Dr Anwar Jamal, Deputy District Polio Officer Dr Naveed Khurshid, Deputy District Polio Officer Dr Saif along with the officials of health department, WHO and other departments participated in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2022.