Tag: vaccination

  • Consequences Of Not Giving Your Child Routine Vaccination

    Consequences Of Not Giving Your Child Routine Vaccination

    In July 2020, the WHO and UNICEF warned of an alarming decline in the number of children receiving life-saving vaccines due to COVID-19 lockdowns and the disruption of essential health services.

    Health workers often remind you and your family to bring your child back to Puskesmas or Posyandu to get their immunizations on time according to the recommended schedule. The government of Indonesia is trying hard to ensure that your child realizes theirs full rights to grow up healthy and be free from diseases that vaccines can prevent.

    Being a responsible parent or a good caregiver of a child, you should know why it is so important to complete all the vaccines on time? What could be the potential risks for your children, family and country if this does not happen timely?

    Neglecting to provide routine vaccinations for your child can have several serious consequences:

    1. Your children will be more likely to get serious illnesses
    Do you know if children who do not receive complete immunization on time will be susceptible to various vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitis, tuberculosis, whooping cough, and diphtheria? Furthermore, children are also susceptible to various other health problems; for example, when a child has measles, complications like diarrhoea, pneumonia, blindness, and malnutrition are common.

    2. Other family members are also more likely to get seriously ill
    Do you know other people around sick and unimmunized children at risk of contracting diseases or vice-versa?

    When you get sick, your children, grandchildren, and parents may be at risk, too
    Adults are the most common source of pertussis (whooping cough) infection in infants, which can be deadly for babies. When your child gets vaccinated, you are protecting yourself and your family, as well as those in your community who may not be able to be vaccinated.

    Adults can also contract and experience mild symptoms with fatal complications; for example, pregnant women who are infected with the rubella virus are at high risk of giving birth to children with various disorders known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Pregnant women who contract the measles virus are at risk of experiencing a miscarriage.

    3. You may contribute to a disease outbreak in the community
    Infectious disease cases among a vulnerable group could lead to a broader community outbreak. This is why the government still vaccinates children against polio. When more children miss their vaccination, diseases that have been in decline for many years could suddenly break out again.

    4. You have to bear the cost of treatment for the disease and its complications
    Diseases not only have a direct impact on individuals and their families but also carry a high price tag for society as a whole. It requires expensive and time-consuming treatment.

    For example, diphtheria will require immediate treatment in a hospital that has the capacity to treat this disease and its complications. The patient is placed in an isolation room and requires special drugs. An average measles illness can last up to 15 days, typically with five or six missed work or school days. Adults who get hepatitis lose an average of one month of work. In the case of a baby born with CRS, they will require lifelong treatment and high-cost medical aid and therapy.

    5. Decrease in quality of life
    Vaccines preventable diseases could lead to lifelong disability,for example, measles could lead to blindness. Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio because it can lead to permanent disability and death.

    Read guidance from WHO: The child, measles, and the eye

    6. Risk of decreasing life expectancy
    Incomplete vaccination contributes to a decrease in life expectancy, while complete vaccination among toddlers influences the increase in life expectancy. Data showed that those children who do not receive complete immunization as a child are more likely to contract various other diseases and therefore experience decreased life expectancy.

    In West Papua, life expectancy increase from 2010 to 2017 with significant contribution from an increasing number of fully immunized children.

    Between 1940 and 1998, life expectancy at birth in Brazil increased by around 30 years, mainly due to the reduction of deaths due to vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. The vaccination of children, which reduced not only cases of illness but also the circulation of infectious agents among the population, positively impacted the health of adults and the elderly (collective protection).

    7. Travel restrictions and school enrollment
    Several countries require visiting foreigners to be completely immunized. Without immunization, children can lose the opportunity to pursue education in these countries

    More and more schools listed ‘complete immunization status’ as one of the admission criteria to ensure all children and school residents are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases and students can fully enjoy their rights to learn at school.

  • FG Extends COVID-19 Vaccination Eligibility Period to July 5

    FG Extends COVID-19 Vaccination Eligibility Period to July 5

    The federal government has said it has extended the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine from June 28 to July 5, 2021.

    It said anybody yet to take the second jab of the vaccine should hurry up and go to the nearest designated vaccination centre to do so.

    While briefing journalists on the update of the vaccination exercise, the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said the country is yet to record any case of death directly linked to the COVID-19 vaccination.

    According to Shuaib, “It is, however, important for me to repeat that Nigeria has not recorded any case of death directly linked to the COVID-19 vaccination”.

    He added that the agency was tracking the utilisation of the vaccines to ensure that those that have early expiration dates are administered first to avoid wastage.

    Shuaib said cases of mild, moderate and severe reactions on the vaccine that have been recorded were those expected from normal vaccination, adding that those who experienced any of those have since recovered and are doing well.

    Regarding the latest status of vaccination, Shuaib said: “As of today, June 24, our data shows that 2,099,568 people have been vaccinated with their first doses while 1,005,234 have received their second doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.”

    He said the increase in first dose vaccination was as a result of the decision of the government to reopen administration of first dose to address increase in the vaccine demand by those who were yet to be vaccinated.

    The agency boss explained that the initial closing date for second dose administration was June 25, but that the agency extended the timeline for the second dose administration until July 5 in order to enable those yet to take their turns to do so.

    The executive director expressed the country’s worry over the uncertainty trailing the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, saying the federal government has been talking to its international partners on the matter.He said: “We have experienced great frustration regarding the global vaccine supply. Not only have there been huge challenges with respect to vaccine manufacturers producing enough vaccines for the world, but there also has been great inequity in terms of distribution. Most countries of the world have received few, and in some cases no vaccine at all.

  • COVID-19 Vaccination Begins In Abuja (Pictures)

    COVID-19 Vaccination Begins In Abuja (Pictures)

    The FCT Minister Mr. Mohammed Musa Bello in his remarks extended his sincere appreciation to all the health workers who have worked tirelessly to contain the spread of the #COVID19 pandemic.


    UPDATES: 150 health workers are expected to get the vaccine today. The first healthcare worker to get the first jab today is Dr. Cyprian Nyong.

    Dr. Cyprian Nyong is the first healthcare worker to get the first jab.

  • Gombe Govt. begins vaccination of 1m cattle

    Gombe Govt. begins vaccination of 1m cattle

    The Gombe State Government has launched the 2019/2020 annual vaccination of one million cattle against contagious livestock diseases across the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vaccination was launched on Tuesday in Gona, Akko Local Government Area of the state.

    The vaccination is against Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (CBPP) in Cattle and Pesti des Petits Ruminant (PPP) in Sheep and Goats.

    Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State in his address said that the exercise was to assist the herders while boosting the livestock sub-sector to contribute to the economy of the state and the country.

    Yahaya stated that since over 75 per cent of the people in the state were engaged by the agricultural sector, it was important to support the sector to impact on the lives of the people.

    While warning against extortion of herders during the exercise, the governor stressed that the vaccination was free.

    The Gombe State Commissioner of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Mr Mohammed Magaji said during the exercise over one million cattle would be vaccinated across the state, adding that such vaccination had not been done since 2016.

    Magaji said that the exercise was aimed at controlling Trans-boundary Animal Diseases (TADs) of livestock, adding that the non-vaccination of livestock in the last four years had seen the sub-sector being ravaged by diseases such as CBPP and PPR.

    According to him, the livestock sub-sector contributes immensely to the socio-economic development of the state.

    “The estimated number of cattle in the state is between 950, 000 and 1, 100, 000,” he said.