Free vaccines for diarrhoea at Delhi government hospitals from today

The vaccine has been made be a part of the government’s routine immunisation programme that covers 360,000 babies born each year in Delhi.

The rotavirus vaccine, an oral vaccine to prevent diarrhoea deaths in children, will be available free of cost in all central and Delhi government hospitals and dispensaries beginning Wednesday.

Delhi government’s GTB hospital (HT File Photo)

The vaccine has been made be a part of the government’s routine immunisation programme that covers 360,000 babies born each year in Delhi.

Three doses of five drops each will be given to children at ages six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks to protect against rotavirus infection, which is one of the leading causes of diarrhoea.

“The vaccine will now be available at about 650 cold chain points — all government hospitals and dispensaries — run by Delhi government, central government, the civic bodies, the railways, the Central Government Health Scheme, and the Employees State Insurance. Apart from that, it will also be available in the Anganwadis on rotation as per the schedule under our outreach,” said Dr Suresh Seth, Delhi’s state programme officer for immunisation.

“This is the twelfth vaccine to be introduced in Delhi. This is a good step; the next step has to be to ensure 100% immunisation. In a city like Delhi with enough health centres, the entire population can be covered easily and should be done. Connecting every child to a health centre and having computerised medical records will also help in ensuring that each and every child gets vaccinates, even if in private centres,” said Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain.

Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of under-five mortality, accounting for about 9.3% of these deaths. And, rotavirus causes about 40% of all diarrhoea cases in India. It leads to 80,000 to 100,000 deaths in children, leads to about 9 lakh admissions, and 3.27 million visits to the clinics in India every year.

In 2017, 122 people died of diarrhoea and infectious gastroenteritis or inflammation of the stomach, according to the annual report on registration of births and deaths. Around 20,000 cases are reported from Delhi, according to officials.

“When a child gets diarrhoea, the resulting dehydration can lead to death. It can also lead to hospitalisations and malnourishments, leading to other infections. Hygienic drinking water, proper sanitation, and good hand washing can help in reducing other forms of diarrhoea, but not rotavirus diarrhoea. That is the reason it is still seen in developed countries. The only way to reduce burden of rotavirus diarrhoea is through vaccination,” said Dr Pradeep Haldar, deputy commissioner, immunisation, ministry of health and family welfare.

Delhi will be the 24th state in India to include the rotavirus vaccine in the routine immunisation programme. “The rest of the states will also be able to start vaccinating against rotavirus by September this year. The vaccine was first introduced in India in 2016 after an indigenous manufacturer started making it. Globally, 96 countries use the vaccine,” said Dr Haldar.