News

95 percent of children fully immunised: MOH

April 26, 2015 1:02 am

Ninety-five percent of children under five years are fully protected against all vaccine preventable diseases.

This was confirmed in the Expanded Programs of Immunisation (EPI) coverage survey done in 2013.

Assistant Minister for Health and Medical Services, Veena Bhatnagar says the lack of awareness of the significance of immunization, the loss of immunization cards and disrupted immunization program schedules are some of the reasons why children were not fully immunized.

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In 2012 Government introduced three new vaccines that reduced childhood pneumonia and diarrhea and the incidence of cervical cancer.

This year, Fiji will conduct a blood survey for Hepatitis B which will inform us the impact of the vaccination program on childhood chronic infection rates.

The Assistant Minister says there is a need for more public awareness and intensified efforts to close gaps on immunization.

Immunisation Week is being celebrated this week.

It is an annual event in the World Health Organisation (WHO) calendar to initiate global public health campaign to raise awareness and increase rates of immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases.