Campaign to immunise children against Covid-19 kicks off in Sindh

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho on Monday conceded that around 27 people had so far lost their lives due to the current dengue outbreak in the province, mostly in Karachi, while the number of active dengue cases was over 5,500, of which over 5,025 cases had been reported from the provincial capital alone.

“So far, 27 deaths have been reported due to dengue fever in the province while dengue cases are over 5,500, most of which have been reported from Karachi,” she told newsmen while inaugurating the paediatric Covid-19 vaccine at the Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) headquarters in Karachi.

Accompanied by officials from the United States consulate in Karachi as well as Sindh Health Secretary Zulfiqar Shah, Health Director General Dr Jumman Bahoto, EPI Project Director Dr Irshad Memon and other officials, the Sindh health minister also admitted that malaria was also spreading rapidly in the flood-affected districts in Sindh.

US officials said on the occasion that in the first phase of the campaign to immunise children against Covid-19, 16 million doses of safe and effective Pfizer vaccines provided by the US government would be administered to children aged 5-11 in Pakistan.

USAID is providing $20 million to operationalise the campaign. In Sindh, nearly 5 million doses will be provided to children in eight districts, ensuring coverage for about 2.5 million children.

The Sindh government will implement the campaign at schools, madrassas and informal education institutions and via mobile vaccination teams to reach street children.

Dr Azra maintained that school-going children were being vaccinated so that spread of Covid-19 could be prevented among them. She said that so far 64 children had lost their lives due to the viral disease in the province.

She maintained that earlier parents had some reservations regarding the Covid-19 vaccination but now most of the paediatricians and child specialists were urging the parents to vaccine their children and their representative body Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) was also supporting the cause.

US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Andrew Schofer said, “I am thrilled to note that Sindh has fully vaccinated more than 95 per cent of residents aged 12 years and older and is now moving to vaccinate children who are 5-11 years old using vaccines donated by the US government to the people of Pakistan. The United States, through the US Agency for

International Development [USAID], continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sindh health department and the Pakistani people in their fight against Covid-19.”

According to US officials, since the start of the pandemic, the United States had promised to donate more than 77 million vaccine doses to Pakistan, including 16 million paediatric vaccine doses.

Through local partners, USAID helped generate public demand to improve vaccine coverage across the province, they said, adding that recently, the US also provided four mobile testing labs to Pakistan’s National Institute of Health to strengthen Pakistan’s ability to diagnose pathogens, including Covid-19, in remote and underserved areas.

The US government through USAID has worked with the Sindh Provincial Disease Surveillance and Response Unit to link with the province’s 30 new District Disease Surveillance and Response Units to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. With USAID’s support, the Sindh government established a Covid-19 Command & Control Centre that has now expanded to lead on implementing strategic and policy decisions to prevent, detect and control 34 notifiable infectious diseases, including Covid-19, in Sindh. Since January 2022, USAID has supported the Sindh government to administer nearly 5 million doses of vaccine in 10 districts.