THE Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) will roll out the 2014 vaccine for children under five years in May.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, David Parirenyatwa confirmed that batches of the rotavirus vaccine had arrived in the country in preparation for immunisation week.
This year, African Vaccination Week will be celebrated from April 22 to 27 under the theme, ‘Vaccination – A Shared Responsibility’.
The theme highlights the role and importance of governments, health care workers, parents, families and communities in successful immunisation.
According to a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO), everyone has a role to play in fighting vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio, whooping cough, measles, tetanus, diphtheria, influenza, diarrheoa, pneumonia, hepatitis and cervical cancers.
Zimbabwe joined the immunisation initiative for Africa two years ago that saw it introduce three new vaccines – pneumococcal, rotavirus and HPV.
The country submitted its funding proposal to ‘GAVI’, an organisation which supports the acquisition of vaccines by low-income countries and it was instructed to expand the local drug storage facilities at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
According to the authority, storage facilities were almost complete with the first batch of vaccine already in the country.
Health care givers who will be administering the vaccine are currently undergoing training countrywide.
The ministry said the vaccine was being distributed throughout the districts.
The message from the WHO towards the 2014 vaccination campaign reads, “We encourage countries to strengthen the integration of immunisation activities with other lifesaving interventions and also people to complete their vaccination schedules.”
Immunisation protects against an increasing number of diseases, from infancy to old age.
Immunisation prevents between two and three million deaths every year.
It is reported that without vaccines, global eradication of smallpox and elimination of poliomeylitis and measles from large parts of the world would be impossible.
New, improved vaccines are now available to protect not just children, but also adolescents and adults.
Yet one in five children, and many adults, are missing out.
There was and perhaps still is skepticism as well as myths surrounding Western introduced vaccines.
Reports of children with high fevers or inexplicable infections have been reported to have occurred after vaccination.
The WHO issued a response on their website on facts and myths about vaccination saying, “Vaccines are very safe.
“Most vaccine reactions are usually minor and temporary, such as a sore arm or mild fever.
“Very serious health problems are extremely rare and are carefully monitored and investigated.”
According to pundits, one is more likely to be seriously injured by a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine.
For example, in the case of polio, the disease can cause paralysis while measles can cause encephalitis and blindness, and some vaccine-preventable diseases can even result in death.
There may be side-effects, but the benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risk of not being vaccinated.
Immunisation week is one of the measures by Government to reach the Millennium Development Goal Four that sets to reduce two-thirds of child mortality by 2015.
Dr Parirenyatwa said his ministry is finalising logistics for the country’s immunisation schedule set for May adding that children are supposed to receive the rotavirus vaccine at six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks.