Worth a shot: Pneumonia vaccine included in EPI

Lung infection kills 100,000 children in Pakistan every year.

KARACHI:

After deliberating on the subject for around three years, the federal government has finally decided to include Pneumonia shots for infants in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

The programme already includes vaccination for polio, neonatal tetanus, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis B, Hib pneumonia and meningitis, childhood tuberculosis and influenza.

According to Mazhar Khamisani, who is the head of EPI in Sindh, the master trainers in all the districts of Sindh will begin training the vaccinators. He said that Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) is supporting the programme. The vaccine will be available for infants at the EPI centres across the province. The vaccination comprises of three shots, at the ages of six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks.

According to the World Health Organisation, pneumonia causes the deaths of around 1.4 million children below five years – which make up 18% of the total death toll of children worldwide. It is most prevalent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In Pakistan however, pneumonia kills around 100,000 children per year, according to pediatrician Dr Iqbal Memon. Though he commended the step but said that the vaccination being provided by the government is expensive and was not affordable for most people. “A single shot costs Rs4,200 in the market,” he said. “The coverage in Pakistan should be at least 90 per cent while it is around 30 to 40 per cent. But, even if we manage to vaccinate 50 per cent of our aim, it will be a great success.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2012.