Call for better ways to preserve vaccinces – DAWN
KARACHI, April 3: Health experts speaking at a conference on Saturday highlighted the need to improve the methods employed for the safety and preservation of vaccines to maintain their effectiveness when administered.
The speakers mainly comprising senior paediatricians and pathologists were of the view that it was a collective responsibility of doctors and pharmacists to maintain safety and effectiveness of vaccines so that not only the desired results against preventable diseases were obtained but also misconception and controversies related to various vaccines were done away with.
The conference on “Updates in vaccination” was organised as part of the 6th Health Asia Exhibition and Conferences.
President of the Infection Control Society of Pakistan Prof M. Rafiq Khanani said that vaccination played an important role in the prevention of diseases, both among children and adults. But it was unfortunate that little attention was paid to vaccination of adults, he said. It was for this reason that thousands of deaths due to hepatitis, influenza, cervical cancers, shingles, pertussis and pneumococcal, which could be prevented in adults, were not averted in many developing countries, including Pakistan.
“We have been neglecting the vaccination of adults in the past, but now is the time to invest in adults’ vaccination and incorporate it in the national expanded immunisation programme.”
He said the culture of vaccination of adults should be promoted, as those going abroad, healthcare personnel, military troops, public safety personnel, sanitation workers, animal handlers, and camp dwellers were at the risk of developing preventable diseases in the later part of their lives.
He also called for investment in research and preparation of database on preventable diseases and efficacy of vaccines.
“Health practitioners should not just relax after vaccinating child and adult patients, but also should know whether the expected immunity after administration of the vaccines has developed in the recipients or not,” he said.
Dr Sobia Qamar of Liaquat National Hospital said that there was a lack of national surveillance data on typhoid. But international reports suggest that Pakistan is highly endemic country as far as typhoid is concerned, she added.
The doctor said that awareness about the typhoid must be inculcated in children at schools and the people at community level. Also, medical professional should undertake studies to have local approach to the solutions of vaccine preventable diseases, including typhoid, she added.
Prof Dr Sultan Mustafa, the head of paediatrics department of Karachi Medical and Dental College, gave a presentation on chicken pox to highlight the routes of the disease and its signs and symptoms. “Chicken pox is not a benign disease as it creates complications in healthy infants and adolescents as well,” he said.
During the question-answer session, Prof Dr Iqbal Memon of the Civil Hospital Karachi called for education of the masses on the value and cost-effective administration of vaccines. He said controversies related to vaccination could be removed through awareness campaigns.
About research studies on vaccines, he said that there was no use of carrying out studies on the efficacy of vaccines as the same had already been done in other parts of the world. He was of the view that instead of spending on studying the vaccines which had already been tested and verified internationally, efforts should be made to improve the preservation and effectiveness of vaccines through proper cold chains and by their timely delivery to the target population. He said a real success of our spending on vaccination could be measured only through the result of campaigns against polio, chicken pox, measles, typhoid, influenza, hepatitis and other preventable diseases.
Head of the National Institute of Child Health Prof Jamal Raza, who chaired the conference, summed up all by saying that there was a need to shift the paradigm from treatment to prevention of diseases.
“We should advocate across the board for the use of vaccines for preventable diseases in children as that is the way to have a cost-effective response to a wide range of ailments,” he said.
