Karachi:Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho chaired the Quarterly Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) review meeting in Karachi on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by EOC Coordinator Fayyaz Abbasi, Program Director EPI Dr Akram Sultan, Dr Altaf Bosan from NEOC, All DHOs of Sindh, Aziz Memon from Rotary International, Dr Khalid Shafi from Pakistan Paediatric Association, District EPI Focal Persons, Technical officers from WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, JSI, IRD, TKF, ACASUS and other technical partners.
Dr Azra Pechuho reviewed the progress of EPI in the last quarter and focused on the impact of COVID-19 on EPI and routine immunization. She was informed that the EPI services have not been suspended during the spread of COVID-19 as per her instructions however, the program had slowed down in Sindh during the first two months even after the centres being open all over the province, due to people fearing COVID and vaccinators testing positive for COVID-19.
She reviewed the data during the meeting which showed a reduced rate of vacation across the province during April and May. The Minister emphasized that even though the vaccination rate has increased in the past one month, it is still not up to the mark as people are scared of visiting facilities and that needs to be improved.
She also instructed the EOC Coordinator Fayyaz Abbasi and Program Director EPI to resolves issues related to vaccinators in Sindh. Minister Health also instructed the DHOs that no negligence will be tolerated when it comes to missed doses of children and defaulters and the DHOs sure make of this.
Program Director EPI Dr Akram Sultan informed the Minister that with WHOs support, extended outreach services were launched in all districts from 15th to 27th June where 200,000 children under the age of 2 were vaccinated against 10 diseases. He also informed her that extensive monitoring is in process in all districts and all EPI officials are visiting field sites to make sure that the program is being run smoothly.
Dr Akram Sultan added that EPI with the support of Indus Health Network now has Mobile Vaccination Units/Vans available in high risk Union Councils of Karachi. Furthermore, EPI has begun communicating with families through print and electronic media to raise awareness on importance of vaccination and information on functional centres across the province.