Maravi

(HERALD) New vaccine for babies

COMMENT - Don't let your children get vaccinated. This is from the same crowd who believe there are 'too many people on the planet'. And vaccinating infants, when there is no trackrecord of the damage these vaccines do over the years, is a crime.

New vaccine for babies
Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:53
Shamiso Yikoniko

Zimbabwe has placed the infant killer tag on four more diseases in a development that will see children under five years old also being vaccinated against petussis, hemophilia, meningitis and pneumonia. Previously, children were vaccinated against six diseases — tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, measles, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

However, the imminent introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine will see the number rise to 10 and the vaccination schedule change. The director of epidemiology and disease control in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Portia Manangazira, said the introduction of the vaccine is expected to go a long way in reducing the country’s child mortality rate.

“The country has been strained with a huge number of children under the age of five succumbing to meningitis and pneumonia,” she said.
“The introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine will be a pillar of child survival and the improvement of child health.” Under the new dispensation, the five-year booster will be scrapped while the vaccination schedule will also change.

BCG will continue to be given at birth with other vaccines being administered at six weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, nine months and 18 months.
However, the growth monitoring process will continue until the child turns five.

According to the Demographic Health Survey for 2010/2011, the mortality rate for children under five is 84 deaths per 1 000 live births while the infant mortality rate, which covers children below two years old, stands at 57 deaths per 1 000 live births.
The neo-natal mortality rate is 31 deaths per 1 000 live births.

The introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine comes amid revelations that pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in children.
“Some countries in the region have already adopted the new vaccines and it has helped reduce their infant mortality rates,” said Dr Manangazira.

“Our schedule had become outdated and saw us losing many infants, which is something that will be a thing of the past with the introduction of the new vaccine.”

Labels: VACCINES

posted by MrK @ 5:38 PM