On Wednesday, Delhi joined 23 States in the country to include the rotavirus vaccine in its routine immunisation programme. The rotavirus vaccine is an oral vaccine to prevent diarrhoea deaths in children. It will be now available free of cost in all central and Delhi government hospitals and dispensaries covering 360,000 babies born each year in the capital.
Five drops of the vaccine will be administered to infants at 6, 10 and 14 weeks along with other vaccines as due for the age. Infants due for 1st dose of Pentavalent Vaccine on and after 7th August 2019 will be eligible for receiving the Rota-Virus Vaccine.
"The vaccine will now be available at about 650 cold chain points - all government hospitals and dispensaries - run by Delhi government, central government, the civic bodies, the railways, the Central Government Health Scheme, and the Employees State Insurance. Apart from that, it will also be available in the Anganwadis on rotation as per the schedule under our outreach," said Dr Suresh Seth, Delhi's State Programme officer for Immunisation.
"This is the twelfth vaccine to be introduced in Delhi. This is a good step; the next step has to be to ensure 100% immunisation," said Delhi's Health Minister Satyendara Jain. Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of under-ve mortality, accounting for about 9.3% of these deaths. And, rotavirus leads to 80,000 to 100,000 deaths in children every year.
Dr Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner, Immunisation, Union Health Ministry said that "the rest of the States will also be able to start vaccinating against rotavirus by September this year. The vaccine was first introduced in India in 2016 after an indigenous manufacturer started making it," said Dr Haldar.