The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced the introduction of five new vaccinations in order to protect children against infectious diseases.
Newborn babies will now be immunized against hepatitis B, as well as receiving inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in three doses.
The new vaccine schedule also includes measles rubella (MR) for babies aged 9 and 18 months, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) for babies aged 18 months and diphtheria and tetanus (DT) vaccine for children aged six.
The Director of Dili Municipality Health, Agustina da Costa Saldanha, said children in Dili had yet to receive the new vaccinations as the ministry was still making technical preparations and raising awareness among communities.
The program is expected to get underway in March.
“We need to share this information with parents so they know the importance of vaccinations,” said Saldanha in February at the Novo Turismo Hotel, Dili.
Meanwhile, technical officer for the World Health Organization (WHO) doctor Sudath Peiris said the five new vaccines would give children added protection against disease, adding that there would be no changes to the existing immunization schedule.
He said for instance the IPV vaccine has helped strengthen immunity and eliminate the virus around the world.
While Timor-Leste is now polio-free, he said it was important to continue the vaccination program as the virus still exists in other countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan and could reoccur at any time.
“Many countries have used IPV to eliminate the virus and it works and today many countries are free from polio,” said Dr Peiris.
He explained that polio spreads through environmental conditions, as well as contaminated food and water, causing sufferers to become paralyzed.
Meanwhile, Director of the Vera Cruz health center Dulce Pinto Tilman said it had qualified health personnel and was ready to implement the vaccination program.
“We are ready and just waiting for national instructions to implement it in the health facilities,” she said.
She said the rubella vaccine would still be available for children who had not yet been immunised.
