ISLAMABAD: The Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) has begun efforts to include the typhoid vaccine in routine immunisation campaigns.

“A window of the GAVI [Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation] Alliance is going to open on May 1, due to which funding will be available. We have decided to apply for it. Hopefully, the request will be approved and we will be able to include the typhoid vaccine in the EPI,” EPI National Programme Manager Dr Syed Saqlain Ahmad Gilani told Dawn.

He said that if the GAVI commits to providing $85 million, that would be sufficient to vaccinate seven million children.

“The typhoid vaccine is injectable and will be administered to children aged nine months along with the measles vaccine. We are also considering that all children across the country below the age of two be vaccinated for the first time,” he said.

In response to a question, Dr Gilani said the National Immunisation Advisory Group has approved the inclusion of the vaccine. According to estimates, the vaccine will cost Rs150 per child.

He said typhoid is a serious issue. Doctors prescribe antibiotics if a child contracts the typhoid bacteria, but antibiotics cannot treat the disease, resulting in the child becoming an antimicrobial-resistant patient. He added that the disease can be fatal.

He said that if Pakistan’s request is approved, the vaccine will be introduced in a city or province in early 2019, and will spread across the country by the end of that year.

According to a statement from Aga Khan University, a new typhoid conjugate vaccine is to be added to the national EPI, following evidence of a threat posed by a strain of typhoid that is extremely difficult to treat with antibiotics.

An outbreak of extensively drug resistant (XDR) typhoid in Hyderabad has already affected many children. Research by the university, presented at the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group meeting in Islamabad, shows that cases are now appearing in Karachi, the outskirts of Sindh, Quetta and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Ministry of National Health Services will submit an application to the GAVI seeking funding for the vaccine.

The control and prevention of waterborne diseases such as typhoid is a global health priority under goal three of the Sustainable Development Goals, which calls for the eradication of such diseases by 2030.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018