National diphtheria immunization campaign starts in Tajikistan today.
The campaign will be divided into three stages. According to Tajik Health Ministry, the first round (scheduled for April 23-28) will cover 730.031 children at the age from 3 to 6 years of age throughout the republic.
The second and third rounds, timeframes of which remain unclear, will cover young people from 7 to 12 and from 13 to 21 years of age respectively.
Vaccination campaign will be carried out in policlinics and kindergartens. Special mobile vaccination units will be set up for remote regions of the country. These units will consist of experienced specialists who will vaccinate children in the field. Vaccination is free of charge.
Tajik Health Ministry assured that vaccine against diphtheria is of high quality and very effective, its safe and certified by the World Health Organization.
Following the 2010 polio outbreak Tajik Health Ministry urged the global community and WHO and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first to support serological surveys in Tajikistan and reveal level of population’s immunity to vaccine manageable infections such as poliomyelitis, measles, German measles and diphtheria.
The results of the survey showed that the population has a high level immunity against measles and German measles. However, level of immunity against diphtheria was very low.
