Dimapur, July 18 (EMN): The Health & Family Welfare department’s task force for the Rotavirus vaccine (RVV) met on July 18 at the department’s directorate in Kohima.
Updates to the media on Thursday gave details about the meeting. Mission director Dr. Neikhrielie, no surname given in the press release, said in his opening remarks that diarrheal diseases are a major cause of hospitalisation and child deaths globally.
Together they cause one-sixth of deaths of children aged below five years, he said. The Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea in children in developed and developing countries, the gathering was told.
‘The RVV has been licensed in more than 100 countries and there has been significant decline in deaths and hospitalisation due to diarrhoea in countries providing RVV,’ he said. He was stated to have mentioned that the vaccine was an important part of ‘integrated protection’ along with oral rehydration therapy, zinc treatment, exclusive breast feeding, proper nutrition, safe water and good hygiene.
Neikhrielie said that the RVV has been introduced in 11 states. Expansion of the vaccine under the Poshan Abhiyan programme has to be done in all the states in 2019-2020. The central government included Nagaland state to include RVV in the universal immunization programme, he said. The state has completed all the training programmes at different levels, the updates stated.
Another health officer, Dr. Ritu Thurr gave an overview of the immunization activities and RVV.
Highlighting the scope and scale of universal immunization programme in India, he said ‘it is one of the largest public health programmes with 90 lakh sessions planned per year and 27000 cold chain points for storage and distribution of vaccines.’
Thurr was stated to have mentioned that the state has been planning to launch the RVV program from the first week of August.
The updates added that the health officer highlighted immunization coverage trends in India, inequality in immunization and the reasons children miss their due vaccine doses.
