The Ministry of Health of Ukraine introduces a mandatory vaccine against pneumococcal infection. The Center for Public Health of Ukraine reports.
"The Center for Public Health of Ukraine is working on the preparation of a scenario for multi-year planning for the procurement of vaccines for 2021-2023, taking into account the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into the Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations," the message says.
As of May 1 of this year, 1,135 people were vaccinated against pneumococcal infection in Ukraine, and 552 people were re-vaccinated.
The vaccination against pneumococcal infection is recommended for people over the age of 65 or with chronic diseases.
"It is this infection that provokes the development of bacterial pneumonia, which is a critical factor during the Covid-19 pandemic. Every year, 1.6 million deaths are recorded worldwide as a result of pneumococcal diseases," the report said.
People with HIV infection or sickle cell disease are at high risk of getting sick. In addition, children must be vaccinated.
"Before the use of pneumococcal vaccines, the incidence of this infection was 44.4 cases per 100,000 children under 5 years of age in Europe and 167 cases per 100,000 children under 5 years of age in the United States," the report says.
The vaccination against pneumococcal disease can be carried out at the same time as other vaccines.
As we reported before, the efforts of all producers, academics and scientists aim at the search of medicines and means for immunoprophylaxis of coronavirus disease.
