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Cameroon: Health – Deserted vaccination centers

Because of preconceived ideas and the coronavirus pandemic, many parents no longer dare to bring their children there.

The vaccine is an essential medical process for children from 0 to 2 years old. Since the covid-19 pandemic, parents have deserted the vaccination centers. Except that avoiding this decisive practice for health exposes children to several vaccine-preventable diseases, such as polio and measles. Friday, June 26, 2020, the coordinator of the Expanded Program on Immunization (Pev), Léonard Ewanè, brought together the Douala media and health stakeholders for an interview on the situation prevailing in the Littoral region.

“The objective of this exchange was to get the men and women of the media to better understand the situation in order to relay information on the importance of vaccination to families and the community,” explained M Ewanè. He continues: “We are not in the countryside, but we have realized with regard to the Littoral region that the performances are not up to expectations. They have declined compared to previous years. It is therefore a question of multiplying the efforts in order to eradicate the preconceived ideas as regards vaccination, to keep the flame of this one lit, to limit the expansion of epidemics and pandemics.

Measles is the fourth leading cause of death in children under 2 years of age. For healthcare professionals, this highly contagious rash disease spread rapidly between 2017 and 2020. The data indicates that 75% of cases are unvaccinated. To eradicate this disease, vaccination remains the only reliable means. “We have at least 12 diseases that enter our routine Pev program, these can be avoided if the vaccine is administered at the right time,” said Léonard Ewane.

In the Littoral region, at least three doses of vaccine should be administered to children before the age of 2 years in order to strengthen their immunity. It must be said that before, the target was the tranche from 0 to 11 months, but today it is from 0 to 23 months. The dose of measles given at 9 months ensured the health of the baby. Now, we must go to the second dose which is administered at 15 months and if we do not succeed in vaccinating at this age, a catch-up is possible at 23 months.

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