Pakistan has reached another milestone by launching the second phase of vaccination against typhoid in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab.
The campaign started in 12 districts of Punjab and Islamabad as a part of reaching an overall target of 12.7 million children between the ages of nine months and 15 years.
In Nov 2019, Pakistan became the first country to introduce typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its routine immunisation programme to protect children against the highly infectious disease. The first campaign was conducted in all districts of Sindh reaching about 10 million children.
“Every child has the right to live a healthy life and therefore Pakistan has prioritised strengthening its immunisation programme,” said Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.
“It is high time that we protect our children from typhoid and other contagious diseases to give them a healthy start in life and a secure future. The present government is proactive to protect children against this fatal disease through a phased strategy,” he added.
The TCV drive has been started due to the high number of typhoid cases in the country. More than 8,000 cases were reported in 2020. Typhoid is having a negative impact on the overall health status of the population. The disease is most commonly caused by contaminated drinking water, poor sanitation infrastructure and lack of food safety preventive measures.
“Typhoid can be prevented through an aggressive vaccination drive in areas where high number of infections are recorded,” Director General Health Dr Rana Safdar said.
“The government has launched the vaccination campaign aiming to immunise maximum number of children in Punjab and the ICT. We urge parents to fully cooperate with health workers and vaccinators who are carrying out the door-to-door campaign,” he said.
The government has engaged 6,975 skilled and trained vaccinators and 6,975 assistants to effectively and safely immunise children. Along with this, 13,950 social mobilisers have been trained to visit households, mobilising parents and caregivers to visit the vaccination sites with their children.
“Typhoid, especially the extensively drug-resistant variant, is a serious disease. Vaccination is one of the most effective public health interventions. We highly appreciate the support being received from the Punjab government and ICT/CDA authorities for this campaign which aims to vaccinate a large number of children in the shortest possible time,” said World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala.
