PESHAWAR: The health department has claimed that the ongoing typhoid vaccination campaign has achieved 98 per cent of the target.

“Our 12 days drive to administer typhoid conjugate vaccine to children aged from nine months to 15 years went under way in 22 districts on October 3. Of the 2.9 million targeted children, including 897,000 in Peshawar, we have so far vaccinated 98 per cent of them,” Dr Mohammad Arif, coordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Peshawar, told Dawn.

He said around 10,000 people were found to be reluctant to inoculate their children but health teams were trying to persuade them for anti-typhoid vaccination.

The official said a recent study by the World Health Organisation showed that 42 per cent of the patients, who underwent the ‘culture sensitivity testing’ for typhoid, suffered from multidrug resistant typhoid and didn’t respond to antibiotics.

Official says people reluctant to inoculate children being convinced

He said typhoid incidence was rising due to the use of contaminated water and food as well as self-medication by the people.

The EPI coordinator said 70 per cent of the vaccinators were women, including lady health workers, who gave vaccine shots to girls.

He said initially, health teams faced opposition to vaccination from clerics but the latter were convinced about its significance for the good health of children.

Dr Arif added that no complaint of vaccination refusal was reported thereafter.

He said the deputy commissioners held meeting of all stakeholders about progress on vaccination on a daily basis and issued directives accordingly besides deputing teams with complete security by the police.

The official also said the communicators visited from house to house to convince people for the children’s vaccination against typhoid.

“We have also engaged religious persons already working for polio’s elimination in the Emergency Operation Centre, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to ensure that the maximum population is covered by vaccination,” he said.

Dr Arif said those people refused against all types of vaccines people but the district administration, police and other teams tried to convince them that vaccination aimed to safeguard their children.

“No side effect to vaccine has been reported until now,” he said.

The EPI coordinator said one vaccine dose cost Rs10,000 but it was given to the children free of charge to stem the spread of the disease. He said more than 700 vaccinators, including 500 women, had been carrying out the door-to-door campaign.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Paediatrics Association has asked the people to get their children vaccinated against typhoid during the ongoing campaign for their better health.

In a statement, focal person of the association for immunisation Prof Sabir Khan said TCV was being administered to 200 children daily on average to reduce the incidence of typhoid across the province.

“We strongly recommend vaccination of the children against typhoid and other vaccine-preventable diseases for their protection. The vaccines being given to the people have been approved by the World Health Organisation and are safe for children,” he said.

Prof Sabir said the response of mosques and schools to the anti-typhoid vaccination was very encouraging as it was the only way to check the spread of the disease.

Also, Dr Hamid Bangash, the registrar of the Khyber Teaching Hospital’s paediatric department, urged parents to use clean water and food due to surge in type cases and ensure that target group gets vaccinated.

“Vaccination improved immunity of recipients,” he told Dawn.

Officials at the health department said that they had been using TCV, the most effective of three types of vaccines, so the people should ensure their children’s vaccination for their good health.

They said few cases of vaccination refusal were reported by those opposed to inoculation of their children against polio, Covid-19 and other diseases unreasonably.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2022