Under the routine vaccination programme in Chhattisgarh, children will now be provided Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) free of cost.
This vaccine will protect the children from many diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, septicaemia, sinusitis and otitis media (ear infection) caused by pneumococcal bacteria.
Babies will be given three doses at the age of six weeks, 14 weeks and nine months, an official communication said on Tuesday.
This vaccine, which is taken in three doses, is available in the market at a very expensive rate, the statement said.
On Tuesday, in a virtual programme, Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo launched the PCV vaccination.
Addressing Chief Medical and Health Officers and field staff, the Minister said that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine will also help in decreasing child mortality rate.
Singh Deo said that 13 percent of the children in the country who die under the age of five suffer from pneumonia. And 15 percent of them die from pneumococcal pneumonia.
He said 105,000 children and 53,000 children died due to pneumococcal pneumonia in 2010 and 2015 respectively.
Director of Health and Family Welfare Department Dr. Priyanka Shukla said that in the districts that are at high risk of Japanese Encephalitis, the vaccine has also been included in the routine vaccination programme to prevent the disease.
Dr. Shukla said that despite the pandemic, 94 percent of the children were vaccinated under the regular vaccination programme in financial year 2020-21.