Mandatory typhoid vaccine in 2019

GOVERNMENT will introduce mandatory child vaccination against typhoid from 2019, a senior Government official has said.

Typhoid conjugate vaccination (TCV) will be administered to children under the age of two years.

Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control in the Health and Child Care Ministry, Dr Portia Manangazira, said the vaccination was part of the strategy to eradicate typhoid and cholera by 2030.

Dr Manangazira said TCV would from next year form part of the Health Ministry’s routine immunisation programme, and exact dates for immunisation would be made public.

“It’s a once off dose but the EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunisation), the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group and the Inter-agency Co-ordination Committee will soon advise the ministry as to which children should be given the TCV, but it must be below two years of age,” she said.

Government is working with the World Health Organisation and Unicef to ensure the immunisation is done properly.

“Unicef plays its part through procurement of the vaccines which are WHO prequalified. We are still enjoying the WHO technical support of Dr Marc Poncin for vaccine ordering, deployment and training.

“(EPI) and the Co-ordination Committee is supporting training in improved surveillance of adverse events after the immunisation,” said Dr Manangazira.

Next month, Government and the City of Harare will vaccinate children aged between six months and 15 years against typhoid.

WHO Cholera Control Strategy Expert Dr Marc Poncin said the emergency vaccination to be administered before year end would cost $700 000.