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Guyana among 36 countries using bivalent oral vaccine

Jul 09, 2016 News

Guyana has been listed among the 36 countries of the Region of the Americas to have switched from Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV), containing types one, two and three polio viruses, to the bivalent oral vaccine (bOPV), containing only types one and three.
The decision for the switch in vaccine was made through the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) in June 2015.
All 36 countries successfully switched within the established time frame, that is, between April 17 and May 1, 2016.
This, according to information disseminated by the Ministry of Public Health, represents a significant milestone for the global eradication of polio and a unique experience in global public health, with over 155 countries across the world switching during the same time period. This has essentially brought countries one step closer to global polio eradication, the Ministry announced yesterday.
The Region has progressed significantly with Phase One of containment, and some countries have already initiated Phase Two activities.
Guyana has been able to realize success with its Immunization Programme over the last decade, the Public Health Ministry has asserted. This has come about with the strategies used to combat preventable diseases in children.
In the 1970s, the programme started to vaccinate against six diseases namely measles, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis and in 2012 additional antigens were introduced to fight against yellow fever, Hepatitis B, mumps, heamophilus influenza, rubella, rotavirus and pneumococcal, meningococcal and the human papilloma virus.
According to the Ministry, there have been significant progresses towards this end in protecting the public from vaccine preventable diseases. “We have moved from a childhood programme over the last decade to include adolescents, and now the entire family,” outlined a statement from the Ministry yesterday.
Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines was introduced in 1995, in 1998-Hepatitis B to health workers and other high risk groups, in 1999-Yellow Fever, in 2000 and 2001- Pentavalent vaccines, in 2010-Rotavirus, in 2011 Pneumococcal vaccines. The Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine was introduced in 2011. This vaccine works as a preventive measure to fight against cervical cancer and is being administered to young girls, 11-13 years of age.
Active Surveillance is maintained for poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and tetanus including neonatal and adult, diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), tuberculosis and yellow fever and all other diseases. “We are constantly monitoring the signs and symptoms of any vaccine preventable disease,” the Ministry has highlighted.
Testing and confirmation for these vaccine preventable diseases is being done in collaboration with PAHO/WHO.
Towards this end, there has been significant achievement in the EPI programme in Guyana. The last reported case of whooping cough was in 2002. Before that there were no reported cases since 1962.
Added to this, Guyana has maintained a polio free status, since 1991, no reported case of Measles and the last case of yellow fever was in 1968.
Vaccination coverage has always been maintained at over 90 per cent in the antigens administered to children under one year of age over the last five years at the national level.
Even though the national coverage is over 90 per cent, there are still regional areas which will be targeted to ensure that the coverage is maintained.
“This illustrates the government’s commitment to ensure that the children are protected against the vulnerable diseases and reduce childhood mortality,” the Ministry has announced.

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