ISLAMABAD: Proper vaccination and immunisation can help prevent more than two million deaths of children under five years of age in Pakistan, said Pakistan Paediatric Association Pakistan (PPA) President Prof Dr Rai Muhammad Ashar on Saturday. “Despite the free availability of vaccination by the government, it is very unfortunate that Pakistan has lowest coverage rate in South Asia,” he said in a press briefing in connection to an awareness drive to mark the upcoming World Immunisation Week. The awareness drive was supported by GSK Pakistan. “Parents should not compromise on immunisation of their children as it saves them from illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases,” he appealed. He said that life-threatening infectious diseases could be treated and controlled through immunisation, which also reduces the disease burden. Vaccines also play a major role in eliminating and preventing diseases, including diphtheria, Hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus. “Every year due to vaccines, approximately 3,000,000 deaths are prevented. Immunization is estimated to save 2-3 million lives every year. An estimated 19.5 million infants worldwide are still not vaccinated. If the optimum rates of immunization or herd immunity are not maintained, diseases prevented by vaccination will return,” he added. Narrating facts of deadliest preventable diseases in Pakistan, he said, “Rotavirus leads to 1 out of 3 infant hospitalisations and almost every child gets infected with rotavirus by their 5th birthday. Moreover, pneumococcal meningitis is the most common form of meningitis and the most serious form of bacterial meningitis. Very young children – as young as a few months old and up to the age of 2, are at the highest risk of pneumococcal meningitis. Similarly, polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death.” He added, “Vaccination can reduce the usage of some antibiotics. They can tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance. Vaccines activate antibodies that fight diseases at hand, without actually giving you the disease. They trick us into fighting a disease we don’t have, so that our body is prepared to fight it off if we are exposed it in the future.” He went on to say that every year vaccines prevent six million deaths worldwide. Vaccines are the most affordable solution when it comes to preventing certain health hazards. They can prevent even death that is caused by diseases like polio, measles, whooping cough, diarrhoea and pneumonia. Moreover, if people are not vaccinated, diseases that have become uncommon such as pertussis (whooping cough), polio and measles, will quickly re-appear. It is pertinent to note that Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) was established in Pakistan in 1978. EPI currently aims to vaccinate approximately six million children of age up to 11 months against 10 target diseases: childhood tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, diarrhoea, Hepatitis B, aemophilus influenza type b (HIB), pneumonia, measles and tetanus. Published in Daily Times, April 22nd 2018.