Nicaragua to Use Cuban
Hepatitis B Vaccine
MANAGUA - Nicaragua's Ministry of Health
announced that it would begin using 140,000
doses of hepatitis B vaccine donated by
Cuba.
Edmundo Sanchez, the ministry's director of
epidemiological monitoring, said they would
vaccine children up to 13 years old who were
not vaccinated with the pentavalent in
previous years.
The main goal is to cover 95 percent of
children, the equivalent of 90,000 children,
he said.
Speaking at a press conference, Sanchez said
the vaccine was donated by the Cuban
government and is ready to be distributed to
health facilities, to begin the process of
immunization.
Members of the army, the police and the
prison system will also be vaccinated.
The Sandinista government has been carrying
out a sustained vaccination campaign for the
last three years, aimed at prevention,
especially among high-risk groups, an
initiative emphasized by the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO).
Sanchez said that from next August, 400,000
Nicaraguan adults will be vaccinated,
especially the elderly, for pneumonia.
The immunization campaign with a pentavalent
vaccine, for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping
cough, hepatitis B and meningitis, will be
carried out in municipalities where there
has been a lack of coverage, and monitoring
is maintained to prevent an outbreak of the
A H1N1 flu virus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
