Coverage of booster worrying

By LULU MARK
IT is a serious concern that the routine immunisation coverage in children has dropped way below 50 per cent in Papua New Guinea, a doctor says.
The Covid-19 National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom said with low immunisation coverage, children were vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases such as polio and measles.
Dr Esorom said at the presentation of 224 solar vaccine refrigerators and freezers to the Government yesterday.
He said the equipment would help strengthen, improve and sustain the cold chain system of the country for the overall immunisation programme.
Dr Esorom said childhood immunisation coverage nationwide had gone down to around 23 per cent last year and that was because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the coverage was really low when polio hit PNG in 2018 and 2019 and through the response from the Government and international partners and donors, improvements were made and the coverage was restored to 100 per cent.
“With the experiences we gained after polio outbreak, we tried our very best to strengthen the immunisation programme but the global pandemic Covid-19 came,” he said.
“Covid-19 has limited the people’s movement which included parents bringing their children to the health facilities for immunisation.
“Now we are promoting the Covid-19 vaccines for adults and it is important that we prioritise childhood vaccines as well.”
He said childhood routine immunisation was ongoing at health facilities.
Dr Esorom urged the parents to bring their children for vaccination when they could.