HYDERABAD: The Sindh health department is set to launch a 13-day campaign to vaccinate around 8.9 million school-going children against XDR (extensively drug resistance) typhoid in Karachi and Hyderabad from Monday (today).
An outbreak of the XDR strain was first reported in November 2016 in Sindh. A Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign was first launched in 2019 to vaccinate children as young as six months of age.
Sindh Extended Programme on Immunisation (EPI), backed by donors like Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI), Unicef and WHO, will vaccinate an estimated 8.9m children of nine months to 15 years of age against XDR typhoid in eight districts of Sindh — seven districts of Karachi division and one Hyderabad — from May 13 to May 25.
“We need to take XDR typhoid issue seriously,” said Dr Khalid Shafi, who chairs National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAGs).
According to him, typhoid fever could potentially affect brain, intestines and kidneys and bones.
He advised parents to get their children vaccinated against typhoid.
An EPI official said that 6,800 cases of all typhoid — MDR, XDR and non-resistant — were reported between January and June 2023 in Sindh.
Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2024
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