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Preparing for third wave: J’khand launches Pneumonia vaccination drive for children
Jharkhand on Thursday became the sixth state in the country that rolled out the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) drive to make children’s immunity stronger in a bid to protect them from the probable third wave of coronavirus, officials said
Jharkhand on Thursday became the sixth state in the country that rolled out the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) drive to make children’s immunity stronger in a bid to protect them from the probable third wave of coronavirus, officials said.
State health minister Banna Gupta said, “The government is concerned as according to the experts and scientists, the probable third wave of Covid-19 might hit children. So, our government is taking all possible steps to protect children. The PCV drive will prove to be a milestone in this regard.”
The minister said that pneumonia has been the main cause of disease and deaths in children below five years of age. “There will be a huge reduction in such cases after this vaccination campaign,” he said.
Ananya, a two and half-year-old child, became the first in Jharkhand to receive the first shot of the vaccine on the occasion of the launch programme.
Jharkhand has set a target to vaccinate around 8.5 lakh children. The vaccine in three doses. The first dose is given when an infant completes 45 days of birth, the second dose at 90 days and the third is given when the baby is nine months old, an official said.
Five states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, have already started the drive.
Jharkhand has received 77,200 vaccine doses from the centre to begin the drive, officials said.
The drive holds significance for Jharkhand, as the cost of the vaccine is very high. Additional chief secretary Arun Kumar said, “One dose costs around ₹1600, which is expensive for many families in the state.”
The health minister said, “The state government is trying to give better healthcare facilities to people of the state in limited resources. The health indices of some programmes are ahead of the national average, while efforts are on to bring rest of health indices at par with the national average.”
The infant mortality rate in the state has come down from 34 to 29 per thousand, while the national average is 33. “If we talk about maternal mortality rate, it has come down from 165 to 76 per lakh, while the national average is 122,” the minister said.
