TEHRAN – The health ministry is planning to kick off the nationwide implementation of the rotavirus vaccination program in three weeks, the deputy health minister has said.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of diarrhea in infants, under the age of one, and their hospitalization.

Rotavirus can cause severe watery diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. Children who get rotavirus disease can become dehydrated and may need to be hospitalized.

Annual rotavirus vaccination prevents the hospitalization of over 50,000 individuals. It will also prevent some 1,200 deaths caused by severe cases of diarrhea.

Rotavirus vaccination, currently being implemented in some pilot provinces, will soon be added to the national immunization program, ISNA quoted Alireza Raeisi as saying.

Babies can get three doses of vaccine at the 2nd, 4th, and 6th months of life. The vaccine is administered by putting drops in the child's mouth.

The national vaccination program against pneumococcal has already started nationwide.

The pneumococcal vaccine helps protect against some types of bacterial infections that can cause serious illnesses like meningitis (an infection in the brain and spinal cord) sepsis (a life-threatening reaction to an infection) pneumonia (an infection in the lungs).

Pneumococcal vaccine can be injected when babies are 2, 4, and 12 months old.

The vaccination program against pneumococcal and rotavirus initially focused on tropical and southern regions of the country.

According to Pedram Pak-Aein, an official with the health ministry, the immunization initiative began in provinces that are most vulnerable to these diseases, IRNA reported. 

“Rotavirus vaccination program will target tropical, southern, and southeastern provinces, while pneumococcal vaccination will be extended to southern provinces as well.

The nationwide implementation of the vaccination program will commence as soon as needed pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines are provided,” Pak-Aein further noted.

The vaccination program to combat pneumococcal and rotavirus kicked off in February after being missed from the immunization schedule for a decade.

The program was officially launched in the city of Bandar Khamir, southern Hormozgan province, IRNA reported.

On February 19, Pak-Aein said, “The vaccination program to combat pneumococcal has been added to the country's immunization program.

It will be implemented in several phases, with the priority given to underdeveloped areas.” 

Some 3.5 million doses of pneumococcal vaccine were imported. In the first phase, the vaccines were distributed in deprived areas of the southern provinces of the country, the official explained.

In May, the vaccination program against rotavirus and pneumococcal went on to cover seven more provinces of the country namely Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, North Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Ilam, IRNA reported.

In June, Farshad Hosseini, deputy health minister announced the pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccination program will cover the entire country soon. “People should not be concerned about the [probable negative effects of] vaccines. Fortunately, surveys and studies have shown that pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines do not have any severe complications,” Farshidi stressed.

According to the head of the preventable diseases department of the Ministry of Health, Mohsen Zahraei, annual vaccination worldwide prevents the death of two and a half million children, which shows the very high effectiveness of vaccines

“We hope to be able to develop these two vaccines soon. Once the vaccines pass the quality control trials, and obtain the Food and Drug Organization approval, we will be able to use the domestic products in the national vaccination program, the official noted.

MT/MG