Gujarat to use AD syringe vaccines for hepatitis hit area

“We will be conducting vaccination in the rural areas of Modasa taluka from Tuesday,which is severely affected due to the hepatitis outbreak,” Sabarkantha chief district health officer (CDHO) H S Patel said.

“We are targeting a population of around 32-33 thousand in the rural areas of Modasa taluka which have been badly affected. This is for the first time we are using AD syringes,” he said.

“However,these syringes will be used only for children,while disposable syringes will continue to be used to administer vaccine to adults,” Patel said.

He said authorities have deployed 35 teams of medical personnel comprising 10 members each,who will administer hepatitis vaccine to a population of over 30,000 on Tuesday.

The disease has so far claimed 83 lives,mostly children and youths,in various blocks of Sabarkantha district while 399 are down with infection.

There have been 11 deaths in last 15 days due to the disease.

Sabarkantha collector M Thennarasan said that with Tuesday’s vaccination drive they are just extending the coverage to Modasa rural areas and Meghraj taluka,which is the second most affected block.

“Through the vaccination drive which begins today we are planning to vaccinate entire population of 35 villages,” Thennarasan said.

Meanwhile,sources in the health ministry said since most of the government staff was engaged in election related work,the vaccination has been planned in areas which are severely affected.

However,after the elections the health department plans to conduct a massive campaign across the state to create awareness of safe medical practises,sources said.

They further plan to educate people on the use of safe syringes and ask them to insist on AD syringes which are safer than disposable syringes with zero chance of re-use. Also,the cost of AD syringe is just fraction more than the disposable syringes,sources added.