Dismissing reports of deaths of some children after administration of pentavalent vaccine in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Pakistan as unrelated, the Centre will introduce this vaccine as part of the routine immunisation programme in Kerala on Wednesday. The vaccine that will prevent children from five life threatening diseases will be introduced in Tamil Nadu on December 17.
The pentavalent vaccine has been supplied to both the States and all preparatory activities including training and logistics are completed, a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said here on Tuesday.
Pentavalent vaccine will protect children from Diphtheria, Pertussis, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae Hib disease, which is a new addition to the routine immunisation programme in the country. It is administered to children at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age and will replace the existing DPT and Hepatitis B vaccine primary dose of which is given at the same age. At present, there are 170 countries using the pentavalent vaccine of the 193 World Health Organisation member states.
Goa has been administering pentavalent vaccine from the State budget since 2008 which was initially introduced in selected blocks but the entire State was covered in 2011. As on November 2011, more than 28,000 doses of pentavalent vaccine have been administered in Goa and there is no AEFI reported.
Introduction of Hib vaccination as a combination vaccine carries the added advantage of reducing the number of injections given to a child from 9 (3 each for DPT, Hepatitis B and Hib) to three.
It is estimated that 40 per cent of all under-5 mortality in India is attributed to pneumonia, meningitis ad diarrhoeas. Hib disease is estimated to cause 2.6 lakh cases of pneumonia and 52,000 cases of meningitis every year. Haemophilus influenza B is difficult to culture from pneumonia and meningitis cases as facility for taking the sample for culture is usually available only in tertiary care hospitals, due to prior use of antibiotics before reaching such facility and stringent culture conditions.
Based on the recommendations of WHO and the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), Pentavalent vaccine will be introduced in these two States with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation GAVI providing free vaccine for three years after which the Centre takes over the programme.
Pointing out that there had been reports of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) in three countries, the statement said that Sri Lanka and Bhutan had resumed vaccination after investigation of these cases while Pakistan continued vaccination. “The reports on the said deaths following pentavalent vaccine were assessed for casualty by respective countries and WHO and concluded that there is no real evidence of a link between the use of the vaccine and deaths,” it said.
Keywords: Pentavalent vaccine, immunisation programme, Hib vaccine
Vaccines introduction in the above mentioned states is driven by GAVI. The GAVI alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. They own responsibility to procure vaccines from various pharmaceutical / biotech companies. If not 100%, however, we have got to trust them.
To make our country prosperous and free from polio and several other diseases in this 21 st century , It's substantially essential to introduce such multicapable vaccine . Every political entity cutting across the party line should welcome the development. People's welfare should be the main agenda of the politics
All drugs and vaccines are approved after safety testing. No government or drug company can assure that no adverse effects can happen while using a new or old drug or vaccine. All drugs and vaccines are subject to surveillance by the drug companies and the government. All drugs and vaccines have some degree of adverse reactions. The approval of drugs and vaccines are based on the risk-benefit ratio and not safety or benefit alone. Can anyone guarantee the safety of cars, airplanes, electricity, nuclear energy? The only alternative is to minimize the accidents. But total banning of all drugs, vaccines, electricity, cars, airplanes, nuclear energy on the basis of safety alone is ignorance. The pentavalent vaccine is used in more than 100 countries. As usual, introduction of any innovation in India is subject to protests due to ignorance or politics. The fear of the future and unknown are part of the fabric of the society that hinders innovations, development and progress.
what is the surety that these vaccines are safe. Last time when Polio drops was given, many children died across the Nation. Health ministry was silent about it. Can the health ministry give assurance that nothing of such kind will happen now? I think this is more important than banning "Smoking" in public places in a free country.
There are always protests, reluctance and negativity for introduction of anything new in India, whether it is computers, nuclear energy, pentavalent vaccine, FDI in retail business, foreign investment in general or multinational companies such as IBM, Coca Cola, McDonald where as most countries in the world welcome these advanced technology, international trade and business. It is inherent in the Indian political agenda to attack anything innovative with strikes, bandhs, hartals, protests and attacks on public transportation instead of showing the power of the ballot box in the democratic process. After the initial protests by the political parties, they realize that they have to join the family of progressive countries for development, international trade and business. But the realization comes too late while China, Russia and other countries go far ahead of India in embracing the new technology, international trade and foreign investment.
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