PAKISTAN has become the first country in the world to introduce the World Health Organisation-recommended typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV).

Soon after the campaign started on Nov 18, there were reports of school children from Karachi’s Orangi Town being hospitalised after a reaction to the vaccine.

All the affected children were students of a school located in Block L of Orangi Town.

The project director of Sindh’s Expanded Programme of Immunisation, who is also spearheading the TCV campaign, told the media that all affected children were stable and had been discharged. He added that the children had panicked after seeing other children getting injected. Some had become dizzy and fainted which is a natural reaction among small children. He said the vaccine was safe and necessary.

In the light of these facts, with typhoid assuming menacing proportions in the city, I request the authorities to start a public awareness campaign through print, broadcast and social media as well as other mediums like mosques and madressahs to emphasise the point that the vaccine is necessary for children and beneficial for them.

Hammad ul hassan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2019