Pneumococcal vaccine freely available at EPI centres

President Pakistan Pediatric Association Dr Iqbal Memon has said that free of cost availability of this vaccine at EPI centres would be a big relief for poor parents. He said this while briefing the media about the pneumococcal diseases and their prevention at local hotel here on Thursday. He said that Pakistan was among one of those countries where diseases like pneumonia play havoc on children .
"Now with the availability of pneumococcal vaccine in EPI centres for free, all stakeholders including paediatrics, government, public health experts, social and community leaders, elected representatives and medical practitioners should play an active role to minimise deaths from pneumococcal diseases," Dr Iqbal said
He said that Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, also known as pneumococcus. It is quite clear that nobody is safe from pneumococcal disease, especially infants and children younger than two years of age. "Children in poor areas of developing countries are more vulnerable to this disease, so there is dire need of extra care," he added.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) pneumococcal disease is the world's number one, vaccine-preventable cause of death among infants and children of below 5 years of age, as around 0.8 million of them die each year globally in developing countries.
"Nobody is safe from pneumococcal disease, but infants and children younger than two years of age are more vulnerable owing to their not-fully-developed defensive system, especially children in poor areas of developing countries, so there is dire need of extra care," he added.
The international authorities say child deaths are falling, but not quickly enough to reach the target, so there is a need to revitalise efforts against pneumonia and diarrhoea, while bolstering nutrition, as it could save millions of children. "Today, successful use of vaccines has minimised the impact of these diseases but these diseases are still dangerous and can kill people who are not adequately immunised," he added.
Dr Memon said that Punjab has already included the vaccine in its EPI program, Sindh is introducing it next week whereas other provinces will soon follow them.
He urged the social and community leaders, religious scholars, pesh-imams, school teachers and elected representatives at each level to make masses aware to get their children vaccinated so that they can become immune to pneumococcal diseases and help Pakistan reduce the death rate of children below 5 years of age.