LAHORE: The Punjab government has geared up awareness activities on vaccination and immunization in all 36 districts as part of the World Immunization Week 2022 that started the world over on Sunday and would conclude on April 30.
The Expanded Programme on Immunization of Punjab has planned to use the opportunity and highlight the use of vaccines as a key intervention to save lives against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Imran Sikander Baloch said that improving vaccination coverage through innovative solutions was the foremost priority of his department
“Access to a basic lifesaving intervention like vaccination can save many young lives. We have to ensure that the benefits of immunization are evenly shared by all,” he said. He added the P and SH department is taking measures to ensure that all populations, especially the poorest and the most marginalized, have equitable access to immunization services.
“Our target is to remove bottlenecks and improve quality of services,” the health secretary said, adding that the Punjab government is committed to filling vacant posts in due course of time, including vaccinators, to increase the access and immunization coverage.
The theme for 2022 is “Long Life for All; In pursuit of a long life well lived”. The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more people – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
The UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.2.1 envisions an end to preventable deaths of newborns and under-5 children by 2030, he said.
Punjab Director General of Health Services Dr Haroon Jehangir Khan said that World Immunization Week 2022 was also an opportunity to increase demand through the active engagement of a wide range of stakeholders.
“Vaccines not only prevent deaths but also reduce illness and disability, with wide-ranging health, social and economic impacts. Between 2010 and 2018, 23 million deaths globally were averted with measles vaccine alone,” he said.
EPI Punjab Director Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Awan said that the province provides free vaccination for 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, including childhood TB, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hepatitis B, hib pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid, rota-related diarrhoea, Measles and rubella, which are administered through the EPI outreach and fixed centres across the province.
He said Punjab introduced two new antigens, hepatitis birth dose and DTP Booster in the Routine Immunization schedule.
He also said that the challenge of coverage in slums and under-served urban areas is being met by establishing new EPI centres through creating public-private partnerships with the Pakistan Medical Association and the Family Physicians Association, recruiting new vaccinators, and mobile vaccination and creating mass awareness.
He said that the programme is introducing innovative strategies to increase coverage in south districts as well as in five mega-urban districts.
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022
