Bhubaneswar: Federal Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda will launch the rotavirus vaccine through the universal immunization program at the national level in Bhubaneswar on March 26 to reduce child deaths and disabilities from diarrhea.
Besides Odisha, the vaccine will be provided, in the first phase of roll out, to all children in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Later, it will be expanded across the country.
The vaccine would be administered, along with other available vaccines, in three doses during the regular immunization sessions across the state’s 30 districts. Each dose consists of five drops per child. Around 853,000 children between 0-1 year would be targeted through 26,000 state-wide immunization sessions every month.
Globally, children are provided with rotavirus vaccine through national immunization programs in 80 countries, to reduce child deaths and disabilities from diarrhea, The Telegraph reported.
Ahead of the national launch of the vaccine, a workshop was organized to discuss the importance of new vaccines in reducing child mortality under five years and improving child survival.
State health department and Unicef officials discussed the dangers of rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and leads to approximately 78,000 deaths every year in India.
It kills one child every four minutes in India and is a leading cause of deaths in children under five in the country, contributing to about 40 per cent of diarrhea-related deaths among children. About 870,000 children are hospitalized annually in the country due to rotavirus-related diarrhea. Odisha has a mortality rate of 66 per 1,000 live births in children under five years (sample registration system 2013), of which, diarrhea is a major contributor.
Family welfare director Nirmala Dei said: “Rotavirus vaccine offers the best hope for preventing the deadly dehydrating diarrhea, savin thousands of young children. Earlier, the benefits of this vaccine were available only to those who could afford it, but now it would be available to every child in the state.”
Yumi Bae, UNICEF’s chief of field officer in Odisha said: “It is important that information about the availability of the rotavirus vaccine reaches all mothers and care-givers in the state. Odisha reports one of the highest under-five mortality, of which diarrhea is a major contributor.”