Daily Times

Sir: It is vital to realise that health of the Pakistani people, is critical to our nation’s economic and competitive future and should be treated as a sustainable resource. Now, we are all aware that pneumococcal infection is one of the biggest disease-burdens threatening children’s lives in Pakistan. In the recent past, we’ve read about the “Antibiotic Crises” and it’s over prescription leading to resistant bacteria. This holds true for the evolution of disease and new bacteria emergence, therefore we must keep up with the latest therapies and vaccines.

“The Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization” (GAVI) under the advanced market commitment is supporting Pakistan through its “Expanded Programme for Immunization” (EPI) for provision of a number of vaccines.

There are 54 GAVI eligible countries and the pneumococcal vaccination distribution as per usage is as follows: 76 percent (41) countries are using PCV-13 (e.g. Afghanistan, Angola, amongst others). 24 percent (13) countries are using PCV-10 (e.g. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal amongst others)

Pakistan is currently using PCV-10 while we have an opportunity to include PCV-13, giving additional protection against pneumococcus. The process of upgrading to the latest vaccine resides with the country’s EPI programme with an annual window of opportunity. With this information in hand the question arises why are we not using the latest vaccines available? Why not pass this benefit to the underprivileged of this country? Who will take notice of this?

In this pursuit for disease-prevention, Pakistan must take full advantage of GAVI’s valuable support. The alliance has created cohesion between the public and private sectors, to achieve the shared goal of protecting children’s health, by ensuring access to new and under-used vaccines, for children living in the world’s poorest countries.

AMMAR MUZAFFAR

Karachi