Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has launched new Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, PCV, for Pneumonia at Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical College Hospital in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
The vaccine is a part of government’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
Henceforth, the vaccine will be administered under routine immunization programme.
The vaccine would help in controlling pneumonia and reducing the child mortality rate.
In India, more than 1 lakh children die of pneumonia every year.
The vaccine will provide protection against 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria which results in pneumonia.
This is the 12th disease for which the Health Ministry has launched a vaccine.
The vaccine Pneumococcal Conjugate protects against Streptococcus pneumonia and diseases such as pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections and meningitis.
Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine was first introduced in 2000.
The whole of Himachal Pradesh as well as six districts of Uttar Pradesh and seventeen districts of Bihar will be covered under the first phase of the immunisation programme.
PCV: Know More- Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus).
- There are currently three types of PCV available on the global market, which go by the brand names: Prevnar (called Prevenar in some countries), Synflorix and Prevnar 13.
- PVC protects against 13 bacteria related to pneumococcal infection.
