Staff Reporter
The Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TVC) campaign was continued in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab as part of reaching an overall target of 12.7 million children between the ages of nine months to 15 years.
According to official sources, the country has reached another milestone by starting the second phase of vaccination against Typhoid in 12 districts of Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) areas.
They added in November 2019, Pakistan became the first country in the world to introduce Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine into its routine immunization program to protect children against the highly infectious disease.
The first campaign was launched and successfully conducted in all districts of Sindh province reaching approximately 10 million children. “Every child has the right to live a healthy life and therefore Pakistan has prioritized strengthening its immunization program”, says Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services.
“It is high time that we protect our children from typhoid and other contagious diseases to give them a healthy start in life and a secure future. The present government is proactive to protect children against this fatal disease through a phased strategy”, he added. The TCV drive has been started due to the high number of typhoid cases in the country as more than 8000 cases were reported in the year 2020. The impact of Typhoid, especially on children under the age of 15 years, is having a negative impact on the overall health status of the population.
The disease is most commonly caused by contaminated drinking water, poor sanitation infrastructure, and lack of food safety preventive measures.
