'All children of the province should be vaccinated'

KARACHI: The Sindh Government recently decided to recruit more vaccinators to increase immunization coverage to 100% in the province.

This decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the Sindh Chief Secretary, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, which was attended by the Health Department, WHO, and UNICEF representatives at the Sindh Secretariat.

The briefing by the Sindh Health Department authorities and the PD EPI noted that children are being vaccinated in 30 districts of the province. Along with the polio campaign, children from birth to 23 months are vaccinated against measles, hepatitis, and other diseases.

It was also informed in the meeting that at present, there are 1518 EPI centers in the government and 235 in private hospitals where children are being vaccinated free of cost. It was further informed in the meeting that the 17 thousand LHWs and 3918 vaccinators are vaccinating 3.5 million children from birth to 23 months. Despite the coronavirus outbreak, immunization coverage has improved, and a helpline 1166 had also been set up.

In the meeting, the Chief Secretary Sindh, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, directed the Health Department to increase immunizations coverage to 100%. "All children of the province should be vaccinated,” said CS Sindh. He said that 3723 more vaccinators would be recruited to increase the coverage of immunizations to 100%. For this, the CS asked the Sindh Health Department to move a summary.

It was also decided in the meeting that immunizations would soon be given in the province's primary and tertiary hospitals 24 hours a day, and the salaries of the vaccinators of the province would be equal to those of vaccinators of other provinces. It was decided in the meeting that special mobile vans would be used to vaccinate children in the slum areas during the evening time.

-MN Report