Daily Times

Sir: This is with reference to a news report, “Call for bringing up routine vaccination ratio in Pakistan,” published in Daily Times on January 6, 2015 that vaccines are administered to children to strengthen their immunization power. It is a serious matter that 70 percent children are deprived of routine vaccination in Pakistan annually. At present the ratio of vaccinations coverage is 28-30 percent. Routine vaccination coverage of 85-90 percent is necessary to create a healthy society in Pakistan. According to an expert view, 70 percent children deprived of vaccinations have been posing serious risk of spreading diseases among those who were already vaccinated. It is really shocking news that around 352,000 children under the age of five die every year in Pakistan. More than 1,800 children have died of measles and other epidemics in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan in 2014 and 204,542 children died within the last 28 days of December 2014 alone. The number of deaths among children is very alarming. The government and all segments of society have to play their due role to increase vaccination coverage to at least 90 percent in order to make elimination of various vaccine-preventable diseases possible.

SHAIKH ABDUL RASHEED

Shikarpur