The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon start offering Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), which protects against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases, for children under one year. The vaccine will be administered free of cost at all civic-run dispensaries, clinics, and hospitals.
The number of children under 1 year of age in Mumbai is more than 1.5 lakhs. All these children will benefit from the vaccine. As part of the pre-preparation, training is being imparted to the concerned staff and awareness is being created at the regional level. Arrangements are also being made for the distribution of vaccines, syringes and other supplies.
After this, as per the instructions of the state government, direct vaccination of children will be started, the information has been given by the Public Health Department of the Municipal Corporation.
According to BMC, the PCV vaccine will be given in three doses - two primary doses at 6 weeks of age, 14 weeks and one booster dose at nine months of age.
The vaccination program includes vaccination against BCG, polio, whooping cough, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis-B, H influenza-B, rotavirus, measles, rubella. As per the directions of the state government, another new vaccine has been included in the vaccination drive.
In India, the pneumococcal disease killed an estimated 1 lakh children under the age of five in 2010. In the same year, five to six lakh children across the country were diagnosed with pneumonia. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Pneumococcal, a type of lung infection. The disease causes difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath, fever and cough in children and if the infection is severe, it can lead to death due to meningitis, pneumonia and septicemia.
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