Pneumococcal vaccination drive: Child mortality rate in Punjab to be reduced sharply

The pneumococcal vaccination drive will reduce steeply the rate of child mortality as it is getting extraordinary response from the public along with involvement of the provincial government and global welfare organisation.
The drive has been launched in 36 districts of Punjab in which 865 Extended Programme Immunisation (EPI) centres have been set up with all essential equipments including cold storage. Besides distribution channels and training of staffers have been ensured completely with proper vigilance and assessment. Dr Tanveer, EPI Manager of Punjab, said that vaccination drive attracted tremendous response among the masses wishing to protect their children from deadly diseases.
Since the launch, "we have received thousands of inquires about EPI centres by the local people which showed the seriousness of people towards the protection of their children," he said. He said the social mobilisation campaign towards the awareness of pneumonia proved to be fruitful as people along with up to five-year old kids were visiting EPI centre frequently.
"We have made EPI centres complete vaccination centres because we are not providing them pneumococcal vaccine only but also different doses preventing polio and other diseases," he said. Punjab government is taking the issue of child mortality seriously and has appointed 56,000 lady health workers to run massive awareness drive across the province.
According to details, 14 cold storages have been set up in the province to safely store vaccine in bulk besides cold-chain equipment and supplies are made to ensure proper storage while proper vigilance is also kept directly by Secretary Health and DCOs. In Pakistan, more than 352,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday and almost one in five of these deaths are due to pneumonia.
It took more than 15 years for developing countries like Pakistan (where the burden of disease and mortality is highest) to get newer vaccines in the EPI. However, now with the help of GAVI / AMC funding, newer vaccines like Pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccine are being introduced in developing countries simultaneously with the developed countries saving potentially hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
The Pneumococcal vaccine is made available in Pakistan with support from GAVI's innovative Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The vaccine, meeting the WHO criteria, introduced in EPl Pakistan is the same WHO pre-qualified vaccine in use in many developing and developed countries.