Defeating pneumonia: Vaccination centres to inoculate children for free

KARACHI:

The health department will ensure that all vaccination centres in Sindh have the the vaccine to prevent pneumonia, Pneumococcal Vaccine, by next week, said Dr Mazhar Ali Khamisani, the chief of Expanded Programme on Immunisation’s (EPI) provincial head.

“Pakistan is the first country in the region to include the vaccine in the list of inoculations routinely administered to children,” he said while talking to The Express Tribune. “The first dose is administered to children six weeks after birth. The second dose is given at 10 weeks and the third at 14 weeks.”

According to Dr Khamisani, the vaccine - which is being given free of cost by the government - costs between Rs7,000 and Rs8,000.

“Data collected by the World Health Organisation states that more children under the age of five die because of respiratory infections than any other disease. Most of these deaths occur in developing countries,” he said. “Children who are underweight at the time of birth or have a weak immune system because of malnutrition are most susceptible to pneumonia.”

While talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Iqbal Memon, the chairperson of Pakistan Pediatric Association, said, “The vaccine should have been added to the list of immunisations earlier.” According to him, 663,000 cases of the disease are reported every year in Pakistan. “About a 100,000 children die from the disease every year in the country.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2013.