Tamil Nadu to introduce rotavirus vaccine to combat diarrhoea
May 2017:
From June, the state government will introduce rotavirus vaccine in the routine immunisation programme to battle severe diarrhoea disease.
Tamil Nadu will be among five other states where the vaccine will be introduced as part of the second phase of the initiative by the Centre.The vaccine has already been added to the routine immunisation programme in seven other states.
This will be the ninth vaccine introduced in the central programme for children in the state. In addition, Tamil Nadu also gives doses for Japanese encephalitis in 13 districts.
Rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrhoea disease in children throughout the world, accounting for approximately 40% of hospitalization. According to WHO figures, 5.2 lakh children below the age of five years die every year because of rotavirus infections.
Although Tamil Nadu has a mortality rate of 24 per 1,000 children under five years, with diarrhoea accounting for 11-13%, public health officials say the prevalence of viral diarrhoea is negligible.Director of public health K Kolandaswamy said although diarrhoea cases in the state are mostly bacterial in nature, the vaccination programme will provide scope to spread awareness on the importance of maintaining sanitation and personal hygiene to check spread of the infection. "We are now in the process of training our staff on how to administer the vaccine," he said.
The live, attenuated vaccine will be given in oral form in three doses: during the sixth week, tenth week and the fourteenth week. "For every dose, five drops will be given," said Dr Vikas Madan, state technical advisor for the programme. The vaccines will be given in medical campsites, primary health centres and government hospitals. The vaccines are already available in the private sector.
With the new vaccine, the country's universal immunisation programme provides vaccines free of cost to 12 "life-threatening" diseases.