Mumbai: In addition to the vaccines covered under the universal immunisation programme by the Government of India, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has suggested five more vaccines to the immunisation schedule for children. They have also come up with its first set of treatment protocols for some of the most common childhood illnesses.
The additional vaccines, as per the new guidelines, include those for typhoid, chicken pox, hepatitis A, influenza and Japanese encephalitis (JE). The two guidelines were released on Sunday by Dr YK Amdekar, a veteran paediatrician.
The doctor pointed out that it is due to vaccination that India has been able to phase out diseases like polio. They also said that the resurgence of measles in recent times can directly be attributed to the disruption in the immunisation drive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“A successful immunisation program is of particular relevance to India, as a significant number of infant deaths here are due to vaccine-preventable diseases. Substantial progress has been achieved in the country in this regard, resulting in the prevention of several diseases,” said Dr Amdekar. He added that the doctors now need to fight all the misinformation being circulated on social media that dissuaded parents from getting their children vaccinated in the past two years.
Meanwhile, the new treatment protocols are set down in “The Purple Book” which will be available to more than 40,000 members of IAP and will also be updated every six months.
IAP national president Dr Remesh Kumar R said that special child health record books have been given to all the paediatricians which have the suggested vaccination schedule, Indianised growth charts, charts to track a child’s developmental milestones, age-appropriate toys and emotional quotient tracking among other useful information. The parents can also get these record books from their paediatricians to keep track of their child’s health.
“Among the vaccines suggested in the new course is the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine whose efficacy increases manifold when given to girls in the age group of 9 to 14. The influenza vaccine is important till at least 7 years of age, as up till then, almost half of the high-grade fevers are caused by seasonal cases of flu,” said Dr Remesh. The JE vaccine is already given to children regularly in certain states where the disease is common, but since it is spreading in other areas, the IAP has suggested it should be administered to all children.
One of the main objectives behind standardising the treatment of common childhood illnesses by IAP was to ensure the rational and justified use of drugs, especially antibiotics. Not only illnesses, but the guidelines also address the protocols to address conditions like autism, poisoning, drowning, etc.
