Indonesia speeds up new TB vaccine development to combat rising cases
Indonesia is developing a new Tuberculosis (TB) vaccine to strengthen the fight against TB, which has claimed an average of 150,000 lives annually.
The state government has decided to launch a pneumococcal vaccination programme for toddlers aged between one-day and one year free of cost at a time when cribs are falling seriously ill with symptoms of viral fever and pneumonia across the state.
There was no system of providing pneumococcal vaccines to the toddlers from the state government so far. Parents procure the vaccines from chemists’ shops in open markets at around Rs 3,500 each for immunizations
against pneumonia.
From now, the vaccines would be given to the newborns by the state government without any charges from the parents. Paediatricians in the city felt that the immunizations among toddlers to fight pneumonia are essential when cases of viral pneumonia among children are on the rise in the state. This year, many newborns have died of viral fever showing symptoms of severe lung infections in different districts across the state.
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Immunity power among the toddlers would be increased once they are given the doses of pneumococcal vaccines with the state government initiatives, they felt.The vaccine would help fight the Covid-19 infections that also affect lungs, a senior pulmonologist felt saying,
“We don’t know when the immunizations among children against the novel coronavirus will kick off in our country. But it’s good to know that trial run of Covid-19 vaccinations among children is being carried out across states.”
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