Immunization: Parents to face arrest

A deliberate failure by parents to immunize their children will be treated as a crime, President Museveni has warned. Speaking at the launch of the new 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PCV 10) at Bugabwe Primary School in Iganga last week, Museveni said such parents deserve to be punishment severely.

“I’m going to consult with my people on what penalty should be given to parents who do not bring their children for immunization because some are just reluctant to do so,” he said.

He also urged parents to ensure that they adopt healthy practices like boiling drinking water, using clean latrines, adopt proper eating habits to avoid obesity and behavioural change to avoid contracting HIV. 

The vaccine is administered to children below the age of five years, to protect them against pneumococcus, the commonest cause of fatal pneumonia in children, and other life-threatening pneumococcal infections such as meningitis and sepsis.

While anyone can acquire pneumonia, young children, particularly infants (below one year old) are most vulnerable. The children are more vulnerable if they are poorly fed and have HIV/Aids, low birth weight, and non-exclusive breastfeeding.

Dr Irene Mwenyango of the Uganda National Expanded Program on Immunization (Unepi) says of the children under-five, who are susceptible to pneumonia in Uganda, only 73% are taken to an appropriate health care provider, where 47% of these receive antibiotics.

“About 60% of all infants [in the country] are breastfed for less than six months, and it is estimated that pneumonia is responsible for 17% of the deaths in children under five,” she said.

The Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP), issued by WHO and UNICEF, recommends a three-pronged approach to address child pneumonia that includes protection (exclusive breastfeeding and improved nutrition), prevention efforts (including routine use of measles, DTP3, Hepatitis B and pneumococcal vaccines), and treatment (appropriate antibiotics).

GAPP estimates that scaling up coverage of these key interventions to 90% could help prevent more than two-thirds of childhood pneumonia deaths worldwide.

With the roll out of the new vaccine, the advocates are hoping to reach 1.5m children below the age of one year and these must receive three doses of PCV-10 after six, 10 and 14 weeks.

The ministry of Health with its implementing partners, Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (Gavi), UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) have started vaccination in Busoga region and will later cover Teso, Bugisu, Karamoja, western and southern regions of the country by the end of the year.