State govt to launch rotavirus vaccination drive for kids in Aug

LUCKNOW : To control high infant and child mortality rate in UP, the state government is set to launch a crusade against the virus induced diarrhoea from August.

The rotavirus vaccine would be administered to every kid in the state to prevent them from getting infected from rotavirus diarrhoea, said Dr Piyali Bhattacharya, nodal officer general hospital of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

“At present, the infant mortality rate in state is 43 per 1000 live births while infant mortality rate (under five years) is 51 per 1,000 and 15% of these deaths are due to diarrhoea which is mostly viral. To counter this, the vaccination drive would be launched on warfooting to make the state safe for children. More than 1.4 million children globally die of diarrhoea and pneumonia - more than all other childhood illnesses combined -- particularly in settings with limited access to health services, nutritious foods, basic sanitation and hygiene,” she said.

India, despite all the development in health sector during last fifty years, still contributes to 10% of all global diarrhoeal deaths in children below the age of 5 years, said Dr Bhattacharya.

Globally, rotavirus is the most common cause of diarrhoea and India bears one of the highest burden of rotavirus diarrhoeal deaths (22%) in the world.

She said, “As Uttar Pradesh gears up to launch the vaccination drive, it is important to create awareness about the safety of newborn from rotavirus infection with timely vaccination. Training of staff is going on a large scale in the state, like it was done for the Polio immunization.”

The state government has acquired a good stock for around 2.5 crore children but it would be released in a phased manner.

She said, “Around 27% of childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia deaths could be averted with the use of three vaccines: Hib, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and rotavirus vaccine (RVV). WHO recommends including rotavirus vaccine in national immunization programmes.” The vaccine may be launched next month in the state and would be available free of cost for the kids.