LAHORE: Punjab will introduce rotavirus vaccine in the last quarter of this year for children below one year of age.

The announcement came during a visit of the joint mission of Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisation (GAVI) and the World Bank to Punjab that met Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the secretary primary and secondary healthcare and technical team of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

Officials of the Unicef, World Health Organisation (WHO) and Gates Foundation also attended the meetings held in the last two days.

Rota will be the 10th vaccine to be introduced in immunisation programme. It will be administered in two doses and will help reduce the diarrhoea-related mortality in children below five. Punjab reports around 4,500 deaths annually due to diarrhoea and the vaccine will help reduce the number.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2016