Immunization

IMMUNIZATION

Immunization against vaccine preventable diseases is essential to reduce the child mortality, morbidity and handicapped conditions. It is mass means of protecting large number of children from various diseases.

Definition

Immunization is the process of protecting an individual from diseases through introduction of live /killed/attenuated organisms in the individual system.

Vaccine preventable Diseases

a) Six killer vaccine preventable diseases

·           Poliomyelitis

·           Tuberculosis

·            Diphtheria

·           Pertussis

·           Tetanus

·           Measles

b) Other vaccine Preventable Diseases

·           Hepatitis B

·           Rubella

·           Typhoid

·           Influenza

·           Chickenpox

·           Yellow fever

·           Plague

·           Rabies

Immunization Schedule

·           Mumps

·           Haemophilus influenza Type B

·           Meningococcal meningitis

·           Pneumococcal Pneumonia

·           Rotta virus

·           Diarrhoea

·           Cholera

·           Malaria

The Cold Chain

The cold chain system is necsessary, because vaccine failure may occur due to store and transport under strict temperature controls.

Definition

The cold chain is a system of storage and transport of vaccines at low temperature from the manufacturer to the actual vaccination site.

The Cold Chain Equipment

The cold chain equipment consists of:

·           Walk in cold rooms

·           Deep freezers

·           Ice lined refrigerator

·           cold boxes

·           Vaccine carriers

·           Dry carriers

·           Ice packs

For successful cold chain system, cold chain equipment, transportation system and motivation and training of t he workers for maintenance of cold chain link are essential.

Vaccines stored

·           Freezer – polio and measles

·           Cold compartment – DPT, DT,TT,diluents, typhoid and BCG