Vaccination Aigainst pneumococcal Diseases Begins On 1st July

Elizabeth Mosima

29 June 2011

The anti-pneumococcal vaccine will be administered free of charge to children aged 0 to 11 months. A new vaccine will be introduced into the National Immunization Programme as from tomorrow July 1, 2011. The announcement was made by the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, during a press briefing in Yaounde on Tuesday June 28.

The anti-pneumococcal vaccine will protect children against pneumonia and meningitis caused by pneumococcal germ. These infections either kill young children or leave them seriously handicapped.

The press briefing focused on the diseases which the new vaccine protects, risks of non-vaccination, the target population, the new immunization schedule, the safety of injections and what the Ministry of Public Health expects of the journalists.

Speaking during the occasion, Minister André Mama Fouda said the gradual introduction of new vaccines into the national programme is in accordance with the government’s health policy.

He said it is in perspective of the increased protection of children, improvement and strengthening of immunization services and health system. Journalists sought to know the duration of the vaccine.

The minister said the child who is vaccinated is protected throughout his life if he was given the number of doses recommended by the Expanded Programme on Immunization.

Children who have followed the normal vaccination programme will equally be vaccinated. Some 1,607,000 doses of pneumococal vaccine were acquired to vaccinate 796,430 children aged 0 to 11 months in 2011.

The total cost stands at FCFA 3,824,064,000 of which 95 percent is borne by GAVI and five percent by Cameroon according to the co-financing policy. Pneumonia, otitis and meningitis caused by pneumococcus are common in children aged two months to three years.

Some 70 percent of pneumococcal meningitis occurs in children before the age of two years, including 46 percent in the first six months; the risk being increased as from the age of four months.

The Minister of Public Health used the occasion to call on parents to vaccinate their children aged 0 to 11 months free of charge in all health centres and hospitals in the country in order to protect them from these infections. Present at the occasion were representatives of international organisations as well as the civil society.

AllAfrica – All the Time