KATHMANDU, June 17: The Child Health Division (CHD) of the Department of Health Services (DOHS) said that it is working to introduce pneumococcal vaccine for children under its regular immunization program by November this year.
Officials, however, said that the vaccine will be introduced in phases so not all the children across the country will get the vaccine at once.
“We are planning to introduce vaccine by November this year. But we cannot launch the program at once across the country,” Dr Shyamraj Upreti, director at the CHD, said adding that the life saving drug will be introduced in several phases. Dr Upreti hopes that the number of deaths caused by pneumonia would decline once the vaccine is introduced.
According to Dr Upreti, pneumonia is the main killer of children under five years of age and the disease kills over 5,600 lives every year in Nepal. Pneumonia is an infection of lungs caused by bacteria, virus or other types of parasites. He said that when one is infected with pneumonia the lungs get inflamed and filled with fluid causing cough and making it harder to breathe. Dr Upreti said that all the children under one year will ultimately get three doses of the vaccine under the regular immunization program.
The CHD however, said that the pneumonia is not caused by single disease and the vaccine will cover only 23 bacteria out of more than 80 that cause pneumonia infection. Dr Upreti claimed that majority of the infection is caused by the 23 bacteria that are covered by the vaccine.
“Several other routine vaccines also protect the children from pneumonia.” he added.
India, which sees highest number of pneumonia-related deaths, has not yet introduced the vaccine under its regular immunization programme. Dr Upreti said Bangladesh has already included pneumococcal vaccine under its regular immunization program
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