The Uttar Pradesh government on September 4 inducted rotavirus vaccine in the routine immunisation programme to protect 57 lakh children in the state from diarrhoea.





Launching the vaccine, state Women and Child Welfare Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said the government was of the firm opinion that the vaccine will play a monumental role in bringing down infant mortality rate in the state. "Rotavirus can cause extreme diarrhoea in children and can even be fatal in some cases. I am extremely happy that we have inducted the rotavirus vaccine in the routine immunisation programme, which will protect our children from this deadly virus," she said.

A media workshop was conducted on the occasion to sensitise the participants on the importance of the work so they can spread awareness and educate the masses about the importance of the vaccine, an official release said. Emphasising on the importance and use of the vaccine, national immunisation officer Dr A P Chaturvedi said, "All newborns must be administered the vaccine in a three-dose schedule over six, 10 and 14 weeks along with five drops of pentavalent one, two and three vaccine." 

With this launch, Uttar Pradesh becomes the 11th state to introduce the vaccine as part of the routine immunisation programme, ensuring complete prevention from rotavirus. The vaccine was first introduced in the country in the routine immunisation programme in 2016 in Odisha and subsequently expanded to Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Jharkhand, Principal Secretary Medical Health and Family Welfare, Prashant Trivedi said.

"We will see a a significant drop in the infant mortality rate in Uttar Pradesh after the launch of this vaccine," he said. Director General, Family Welfare, Dr Neena Gupta said, "More than 2.1 crore doses of rotavirus vaccine have been administered to children till May 2018. We will be protecting 57 lakh newborns every year against rotavirus diarrhoea with the introduction of the vaccine." 

Available data indicates that rotavirus accounts for nearly 40 per cent of moderate to severe diarrhoea in children below the age of five resulting in approximately 78,000 deaths in the country, Director, National Health Mission, Pankaj Kumar said. Amit Mehrotra from UNICEF said in recognition of the global rotavirus disease burden, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended inclusion of rotavirus vaccine the national immunisation programme of all countries. In 95 countries, where rotavirus vaccine has been introduced, a significant reduction in hospitalisation and death due to rotavirus has been recorded, he added.