Compulsory vaccination bill in cold storage for 7 months

Declaration passed urging support for uniform legislation promoting immunisation

ISLAMABAD: A proposed piece of legislation on vaccination and protection of health workers has been lying dormant for the last seven months, according to an official at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC).

Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq presented a draft of the Mandatory Vaccination and Protection of Health Workers Bill 2015 to the upper house in April this year. The draft bill was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services and Regulations for its recommendations.

“The aim behind this legislation is to support an environment where immunisation is seen as a right of every child so they live a life free from all vaccine preventable disease,” said the official.

The ministry official pointed out that the overall coverage of routine immunisation in Pakistan is just 54 per cent which is disappointing and alarming because 1,000 children die from vaccine preventable diseases daily.

Once the bill is approved, it will become mandatory for all the parents to get their children vaccinated against all vaccine preventable diseases including polio and will provide an enabling working environment to the health workers as well, said the official.

After approval the law will be implemented in federal and Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), however efforts are underway that all provincial governments adopt this bill through passing of a resolution or daft a similar bill and get it passed by their provincial assemblies.

“By doing so, it will become possible to have a uniform system for getting children vaccinated,” said the official.

Declaration

On the other hand, a group of civil society activists through the platform of the National Child Health Consortium (NCHC) signed and shared a declaration with Khawaja Salman Rafiq, Adviser to CM Punjab on Health to support uniform legislation promoting immunization as a basic right of all eligible children, according to a statement issued by them.

The NCHC in a recently held meeting in Lahore agreed to pass a declaration urging policy makers to ensure the quality life of children with reference to the rights protected in the Constitution of Pakistan, UN Conventions and UN Declaration on Human Rights.

Members of the NCHC through the declaration requested the government to provide a platform to generate support and partnerships between civil society, media and government at both levels, federal and provincial.

Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq was unavailable for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2015.