Vaccination of children: Concerns about major vaccines

Many vaccines included in the National Calendar of the Ministry of Health for the protection of children from a good number of diseases are in short supply in government hospital structures.

A shortage of pediatric vaccines that persists for weeks has been observed in many public health organizations and vaccination services. As a result, huge delays in vaccinating infants and young children have been documented with these structures.

According to the El Watten daily, there are five major vaccines, namely: “OPV vaccine (OPV), inactivated vaccine against polio (IPV), measles, mumps, rubella (including MMR) vaccine, hepatitis B Vaccine (HVB) and tuberculosis vaccine (BCG).

Heads of public health facilities, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the same newspaper that there was actually a shortage in the area, pointing out their concerns about vaccine delays, which could have serious consequences for children.

A condition “due to coronavirus health crisis”

These authorities are already worried about the re-emergence of many eradicated diseases, such as measles or polio. ” As one of them said, “The situation is urgent and immediate action must be taken to supply vaccine centers”.

For this facility manager, this shortage is mainly a crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic. In this sense, he noted that with the onset of coronavirus, parents did not go to their children for vaccination appointments. At that point, he noted the general availability of vaccines.

However, as the global epidemic slowed, pediatric vaccination centers became congested, leading to a decline in stocks that had not yet been restored due to current sanitary conditions.

Vaccines up to 2000 DA in private clinics

When faced with this situation, many parents turn to private clinics for help, where a single dose can cost between 1200 and 2000 DA or more.

According to the Daily Expression in its Sunday edition, some private sector clinics offer doses of up to 8,000 DA. However, the waiting rooms of these structures are crowded with people.