Pneumonia vaccination drive from August 12 in Nalgonda
Nalgonda: A special drive would be taken up by the Health Department from August 12 to administer Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) to children below nine months.
The State government decided to include PCV in the list of vaccines administered at Primary Health Centres and Anganwadi centres to protect children from pneumonia.
Speaking at a Task Force Committee meeting here on Tuesday, Additional District Collector S Mohan Rao said that children are vulnerable to pneumonia due to multiple factors. Pneumonia can be prevented through immunization and adequate nutrition. The preventive vaccine was available in private health sector in the country, but it costs Rs 4,000 per dose which the poor can’t afford. Hence, the State government decided to administer the vaccine to children free of cost like other vaccines, he added.
Stating that PCV was added to the list of free vaccines administered in government hospitals, he said 10 different vaccines were being administered to children at government hospitals and PCV would be the 11th. He said that there was a need to create awareness among the people on PCV vaccine. The first dose of the vaccine should be administered to newborn babies within six weeks, second doze within 14 weeks and booster dose in the ninth month.
Stating that the vaccine was 100 per cent safe, he said that ICDS had taken up the exercise of identifying eligible children for the administration of pneumonia vaccine in the district. The services of Anganwadi centres would also be taken by the health department for the purpose.
District Medical and Health Officer Dr Kotachalam, district immunization officer Dr Venkata Ramana, ICDS Project Director Narsimha Rao and others also participated in the meeting.
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