Rotavirus Vaccination Prog Extended To Odisha & Other States

New Delhi: Rotavirus vaccine will be provided to every child across the country to end morbidity and mortality in children by 2022, the Centre on Friday said.

The vaccine was introduced in 2016 in four states and then expanded to seven more by 2018. Now, it will be available in all the 28 states, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said. The vaccine will ve available in all areas by September.

Diarrhoea is one of the biggest killers in children and Rotavirus is one of the most common causes of severe diarrhoea in children less than two years of age.

According to a government statement, every year 37 out of 1000 children born are unable to celebrate their fifth birthday, the major reason being diarrhoeal death.

Rotavirus causes 78,000 deaths, 8.72 lakh hospitalisation cases and more than 32 lakh outpatient visits.