Members of Vaccine Expert Panel
Ejaz A. Khan (General Secretary) – Islamabad Iqbal Memon – Karachi, Naseer Uddin Mahmood – Karachi, Ashraf Sultan – Lahore, Sajid Maqbool – Lahore, Haider Sherazi – Islamabad, Gen. Salman Ali – Islamabad, Salma Sheikh – Hyderabad and Nadeem Khawar – Peshawar
Med Rev Report
A meeting of the members of the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) of Pakistan was arranged at a Serena Islamabad in the month of April 2015. The Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) is a group of Key Opinion Leaders in the Pediatric faculty of Pakistan which has been structured to collectively focus on the issues related to vaccination in Pakistan.
The 2-day session was attended by the members of the Vaccine Expert Panel. During the meeting, Dr. Ejaz A. Khan, the General Secretary of the Vaccine Expert Panel, highlighted the objectives of the Panel which are to discuss and highlight the major challenges faced in Pakistan on vaccination; to discuss and emphasize on the implementation / plan of action to execute the SAGE & WHO recommendation for the inclusion of IPV in the routine immunization schedule and cover the catch-up population of under 5 years; inclusion of new vaccines in Pakistan, in both private & public sector, and planning on the country-wide arrangement of spreading the consensus developed during the meeting.
Summarizing the objectives of VEP, all the participants agreed to strive to improve the immunization status of the children of Pakistan.
The pivotal point of discussion among the VEP members was Polio eradication from Pakistan. A need was highlighted on the implementation of the SAGE and WHO recommendation for the inclusion of IPV in the routine immunization schedule of doctors and to cover the catch-up population of less than 5 years by giving one dose of IPV. It was emphasized to increase the awareness amongst the medical faculty of Pakistan at both Public and Private Level about the Global End-Game Strategy for the Polio eradication.
Prof. Ashraf Sultan informed the participants that according to WHO policy recommendations, all children world-wide should be immunized against polio and every country should seek to achieve and maintain high levels of coverage with polio vaccine as well as routine and health messages for disease prevention.
Prof. Gen. Salman Ali deliberated at length and with technical data about immunization issue and benefits of OPV; safety and effectiveness of IPV and when should IPV be administered as per World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and highlighted the importance of booster doses of IPV.
The members of VEP also discussed the Global Polio Eradication strategy which has been adapted to take advantage of best available data and tools. IPV with OPV have been successfully used in campaigns with the goal to interrupt transmission in specific settings. Use of IPV with OPV in specific populations will help rapidly boost protection of intermittently accessible children and interrupt chains of poliovirus transmission.
Global Strategic Plan 2013-18 targets the use of IPV with OPV for interrupting polio transmission and the Global introduction of at least 1 dose of IPV into the routine immunization schedules, and One dose of IPV, for all children under 5 years, as a catch-up schedule. Almost all countries now have plans to introduce IPV into routine immunization schedules by end 2015.
Other than the important discussion on Polio eradication, the Vaccine Expert Panel also discussed on the importance of vaccination in Pakistan. Prof. Sajid Maqbool highlighted that highest mortality amongst children is under 5 years and the most common cause of deaths in children under 5 years, is infections which can easily be prevented through vaccination. He also discussed that mortality figures dropped from 10.3 million to 6.8 million due to vaccination. It was unanimously agreed amongst the VEP members that prevention is the best strategy for reducing the mortality rates among children of Pakistan with vaccination being the safest and the most cost-effective solution.
Prof. Iqbal Memon discussed the importance of Booster vaccination for complete prevention of diseases in the children of Pakistan, as absence of a booster dose by EPI, is resulting in resurgence of various preventable diseases, mainly Pertussis. The WHO recommendations on Boosters were discussed in detail. The call to add and increase boosters was emphasized during the discussion. It was also stressed to focus on building awareness amongst the medical faculty of Pakistan to increase booster vaccination to cover the waning immunity and also focus on vaccinating pregnant women; Health care workers, adolescents and young and old. The need for boosters of vaccines like MMR; Hib; Meningococcal and Chickenpox was accentuated. Prof. Iqbal Memon along with other members of the VEP concluded that in order to prevent resurgence of diseases in Pakistan, the need for giving boosters especially in the 2nd year and 4-6 year of life should be ensured.
The inclusion of new vaccines in the immunization schedules for the children of Pakistan was also an important topic of discussion during the VEP meeting. Prof. Nadeem Khawar & Prof. Haider Sherazi discussed the disease consequences of Meningococcal infection. The VEP members highlighted N. Meningitidis to be the 2nd most common organism causing Meningitis in the world. All the VEP members agreed that protection should be provided to all children against Meningococcal infections through vaccination rather than waiting for an outbreak / epidemic that may result in mass casualties and deaths.
All the VEP members were committed to take steps to improve the vaccination status of the children of Pakistan and confirmed to take measures that will help in ensuring the recommendations and guidelines related to vaccination as well as to strive to increase awareness on Immunization amongst the medical faculty of Pakistan.
