Pneumococcal vaccine for children under one soon in Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon start offering Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) for children under one year

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon start offering Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) for children under one year. The vaccine will be administered free of cost at all civic-run dispensaries, clinics, and hospitals.

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“The city has around 1.5 lakh children in this age group,” said additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani. “All these children will benefit from the vaccine,” he said.

The vaccine protects against lung infections like pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases. It will be offered under the expanded immunisation programme which already includes BCG, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis-B, rotavirus, measles and rubella.

An estimated one lakh children under the age of five were killed due to pneumococcal diseases in India in 2010. The same year, nearly six lakh children were diagnosed with pneumonia. Introducing PCV in the programme will help reduce such deaths drastically.

The PCV is given in three doses at six weeks of age, 14 weeks, and a booster dose at nine months. The civic body has already started preparing for the vaccination by training staff and arranging for syringes and other supplies.