Haiti launches campaign to vaccinate babies against several diseases

Carribean nation  Haiti has launched a campaign to vaccinate all babies against pneumonia, meningitis, sinusitis, otitis and sepsis.

Health Minister Greta Roy Clement and United States Ambassador to Haiti, Michèle Jeanne Sison participated in the launch of the PCV13 pneumococcal vaccine.

Clement said that while in the past, parents had to pay 5,000 Gourdes (One Gourde =US$0.01 cents) for the vaccine, from now on “it is available free to all babies on the national territory”.

Divided into three doses, the vaccine will be administered to babies before 11 months of age. The first dose at one and a half months, the second at two and a half months and the final dose at three and a half months.

The US diplomat said she was pleased with the decision of the Haitian government for co-financing the US$1.2 million needed for the project and urged it to continue to include increased funding for the health sector.

The representative of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), Homero Hermandez, said that alliance would co-finance the project to the tune of US$2.1 million.