LAHORE: For the first time, more than one million children will be administered Rotavirus vaccine under the routine immunisation schedule of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) initially in six districts of Punjab.

After Lahore, Multan, Khushab, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin and Muzaffargarh the vaccine will be introduced in phases in rest of the province which accounts for 20 per cent of country’s birth cohort, an official of the directorate-general of health services said on Sunday.

Administered in two oral doses for children of six weeks as well as 10 weeks of age, Rotavirus vaccine would be the 10th vaccine to be introduced in the EPI.

More than 1m children will be administered rotavirus vaccine

It would boost immunity of children against diarrhoea and significantly reduce the burden of disease among children under five years of age. It would also help reduce the diarrhoea-related mortality in children below five in Punjab. “Around 1.2m cases of diarrhoea are reported annually in Punjab with 23,000 deaths due to diarrhoea including 40-45pc related to Rotavirus,” said the official.

The Punjab launch of Rotavirus vaccine would also kick off the national roll-out of the life-saving vaccine. Immunisation has proved to be one of the most powerful and cost-effective of all health interventions, especially to prevent severe rotavirus disease and the deadly, dehydrating diarrhoea that it can cause. Life-saving Rotavirus vaccines needed to be introduced as part of a comprehensive approach to control diarrhoea-related disease, along with other interventions including oral dehydration therapy, exclusive breastfeeding, zinc treatment besides improvements in water and sanitation.

Inclusion of Rotavirus vaccine in the EPI was formally announced at a recent ceremony held in Lahore. The ceremony was attended by Senior Country Manager of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr Hamidreza Setayesh, country representative of Unicef Pakistan, Belgium Ambassador to Pakistan Ms Frederic Verheyden, Federal EPI Manager Dr Saqlain Gillani, Punjab Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Khwaja Salman Rafique, Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khwaja Imran Nazir and representatives from WHO and the Gates Foundation in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn January 16th, 2017