Don't panic over Pentavalent vaccines: Docs to parents

KATHMANDU, May 12: Pediatricians have asked parents not to panic in the face of the unavailability of Pentavalent (DPT-HepB-Hib) vaccines at hospitals across the country.



The hospitals currently don´t have the vaccines--meant for protecting infants from diseases like Diphtheria, Pertusis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza--and worried parents are giving expensive alternatives to their children at private hospitals.[break]



Some parents administered Easy-5 vaccine at Om Hospital in Chabahil at a cost of Rs 1,050 Wednesday as an alternative to the Pentavalent vaccine that is otherwise available for free at government hospitals.





The first dose of Pentavalent vaccine is given to a child six weeks after birth and the second and third (last) doses are subsequently given at a gap of four weeks of successive doses. “A delay of four-five weeks in starting the first dose or continuing the subsequent doses is not going to be harmful in any way,” senior pediatrician at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) Dr Ramesh Kant Adhikari assured.



“The alternatives given at private hospitals are safe and effective but the parents should not panic and run after the expensive alternatives now,” Dr Adhikari added.



Vaccines arriving shortly: UNICEF



Meanwhile United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF)--which delivers Pentavalent vaccines provided by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), to various developing countries including Nepal--has assured that the vaccines would arrive in Nepal shortly.



“The UNICEF Supply Division in Copenhagen placed Nepal at the top of its priority list and is dispatching a consignment of 750,000 doses of Pentavalent vaccine on May 17, which should reach the country by the end of May to provide continuity of the immunization sessions,” reads a press statement issued by UNICEF on Wednesday.



The statement says WHO asked for a recall and destruction of around 24 million doses of Pentavalent vaccine globally, including around 1 million doses in Nepal, manufactured by the Indian company Shanta Biotechs as a precautionary measure. “This has impacted vaccinations in seven countries, including Nepal, and has laid additional burden of orders on the other companies eligible to provide supplies,” the statement explained the cause of delay in procurement.

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