Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
June relaunch for national program
Pentavalent Vaccine 12 May, 2011 - The pentavalent vaccine, suspended 18 months ago after five cases of serious ?adverse effect following immunisation? (AEFI) or deaths were reported, will be reintroduced next month into the national vaccination programme.
Relying on the findings by experts from the World Health Organisation and laboratory tests, public health officials said it was ?unlikely? that the five in one vaccine caused the deaths of the nine babies, who had received the vaccine, when it was launched nationwide in October 2009.
The vaccine is a combination of vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), tetanus, hepatitis-B and the haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) germ. It?s given to babies in three doses, when they are six, ten and 14 weeks old.
?The deaths were coincidental and, especially in Bhutan, which has an immunisation coverage above 95 percent, any child that falls sick or dies would have had received one vaccine or the other,? public health director, Dr Ugen Dophu said at a press briefing yesterday in Thimphu. A media guide on the vaccine was launched and distributed yesterday.
According to health officials 17 hospitals across the country reported two encephalitis, three convulsions, seven meningitis deaths and another seven sudden deaths after the vaccine was suspended. ?This indicates that there were deaths even among children, who did not receive the pentavalent vaccine,? the media guide states. There were about 40 cases of encephalitis cases reported last year in children below a year.
Given the various causes of meningo-encephalitis, such as bacterial, fungal, viral, chemical and because its associated with other diseases, Dr Ugen Dophu said the ministry cannot guarantee that similar ?coincidental deaths? will not occur again.
?What we can say is that if we don?t introduce the haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine into our vaccination program, more than 200 children will continue to die from pneumonia or meningo-encephalitis,? the public health director said. ?That?s the rationale to reintroduce the vaccine.? While the vaccine would not eliminate totally the number of children suffering from meningo-encephalitis, it would reduce it, he said.
?We can also guarantee the vaccine we bring from the factory to the outreach clinic is brought at the temperature of 2-8 degrees centigrade, and that this would be maintained until it?s injected into our children,? he said.
The ministry also guarantees that its health workers would give the vaccine properly and also monitor all children who are given the vaccine. ?If the AEFIs reported are due to the vaccine, we?ll accept because it?s about our credibility,? the public health director said.
Chief program officer with the public health department Tandin Dorji said data collected between 2006-10 from the region showed that the cases of encephalitis peaked between June and October.
?At the time when Bhutan had introduced the vaccine, the whole of south east Asia region was seeing an outbreak of meningo-encephalitis,? he said. ?The cases Bhutan had in 2009 suggest a low level of the disease?s outbreak.?
The ministry is planning to reintroduce the vaccine on June 11 and is now waiting for the vaccines to reach Bhutan by May 23. Manufactured in South Korea, the vaccine, with a trade name Quinvazem, is produced by Crucell and Novartis companies. An Indian company called Panacea Biotec ltd in New Delhi manufactured the previous vaccine.
The ministry is a year into studying the burden of meningo-encephalitis. ?It?s a complicated disease, where the cerebro spinal fluid needs to be tested to determine the real cause,? Dr Ugen Dophu said. ?If that is found, it can be treated but some deaths do occur.?
By Sonam Pelden
http://www.kuenselonline.com/2010/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=19365
Pentavalent Vaccine 12 May, 2011 - The pentavalent vaccine, suspended 18 months ago after five cases of serious ?adverse effect following immunisation? (AEFI) or deaths were reported, will be reintroduced next month into the national vaccination programme.
Relying on the findings by experts from the World Health Organisation and laboratory tests, public health officials said it was ?unlikely? that the five in one vaccine caused the deaths of the nine babies, who had received the vaccine, when it was launched nationwide in October 2009.
The vaccine is a combination of vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), tetanus, hepatitis-B and the haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) germ. It?s given to babies in three doses, when they are six, ten and 14 weeks old.
?The deaths were coincidental and, especially in Bhutan, which has an immunisation coverage above 95 percent, any child that falls sick or dies would have had received one vaccine or the other,? public health director, Dr Ugen Dophu said at a press briefing yesterday in Thimphu. A media guide on the vaccine was launched and distributed yesterday.
According to health officials 17 hospitals across the country reported two encephalitis, three convulsions, seven meningitis deaths and another seven sudden deaths after the vaccine was suspended. ?This indicates that there were deaths even among children, who did not receive the pentavalent vaccine,? the media guide states. There were about 40 cases of encephalitis cases reported last year in children below a year.
Given the various causes of meningo-encephalitis, such as bacterial, fungal, viral, chemical and because its associated with other diseases, Dr Ugen Dophu said the ministry cannot guarantee that similar ?coincidental deaths? will not occur again.
?What we can say is that if we don?t introduce the haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine into our vaccination program, more than 200 children will continue to die from pneumonia or meningo-encephalitis,? the public health director said. ?That?s the rationale to reintroduce the vaccine.? While the vaccine would not eliminate totally the number of children suffering from meningo-encephalitis, it would reduce it, he said.
?We can also guarantee the vaccine we bring from the factory to the outreach clinic is brought at the temperature of 2-8 degrees centigrade, and that this would be maintained until it?s injected into our children,? he said.
The ministry also guarantees that its health workers would give the vaccine properly and also monitor all children who are given the vaccine. ?If the AEFIs reported are due to the vaccine, we?ll accept because it?s about our credibility,? the public health director said.
Chief program officer with the public health department Tandin Dorji said data collected between 2006-10 from the region showed that the cases of encephalitis peaked between June and October.
?At the time when Bhutan had introduced the vaccine, the whole of south east Asia region was seeing an outbreak of meningo-encephalitis,? he said. ?The cases Bhutan had in 2009 suggest a low level of the disease?s outbreak.?
The ministry is planning to reintroduce the vaccine on June 11 and is now waiting for the vaccines to reach Bhutan by May 23. Manufactured in South Korea, the vaccine, with a trade name Quinvazem, is produced by Crucell and Novartis companies. An Indian company called Panacea Biotec ltd in New Delhi manufactured the previous vaccine.
The ministry is a year into studying the burden of meningo-encephalitis. ?It?s a complicated disease, where the cerebro spinal fluid needs to be tested to determine the real cause,? Dr Ugen Dophu said. ?If that is found, it can be treated but some deaths do occur.?
By Sonam Pelden
http://www.kuenselonline.com/2010/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=19365