What vaccines does your child really need?

Till then, she will be living anxiously because Patricia should be getting the Rotavirus vaccine now as it is meant to be administered to babies between six and 14 weeks old.

The vaccine is meant to immunise children against diarrhea which is among the leading causes of death among children. The vaccine is on the list of routine vaccines babies should be getting and it is not clear why it has not yet been rolled out in all public health facilities. Experts say with the vaccine, Uganda will be able to avert 70,236 diarrhea deaths and 329,779 hospital admissions between 2016 and 2035.

Currently, at many health facilities, the rotavirus vaccine goes for between Shs70, 000 and Shs100, 000 which is unaffordable to parents like Nalubega.

When this was put to Dr. Bernard Opar, the Commissioner, Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization (UNEPI) at the Ministry of Health, he said the rotavirus vaccine will be fully introduced at a free cost for all next year. He added another new vaccine for meningitis will be introduced in January.

Initially, he said the government is focusing on introducing the vaccine to 39 districts of West Nile, Lango, Acholi, Teso, Bunyoro and Karamoja sub-regions before putting it on the routine immunisation schedule.

All vaccines important

Vaccines have traditionally been provided free in Uganda and by age one; most children will have received more than ten vaccines. The introduction of a fee is leading many parents to question whether their children really need the new vaccines provided by private hospitals.

According to Nantanda, all vaccines are important and studies have continued to confirm that they are safe “despite the anti-vaccine crusade by some groups”. She says in a few cases adverse reactions can happen just like with any other medications.

“Major problems occur in rare occasions. Usually it’s a fever or headache; especially when the vaccine has just been administered,” she says.

But the question of whether the additional vaccines are necessary could be a veiled way for parents to ask whether they should be spending money on them. Dr. Stephen Twinomugisha, a child Health Expert at Save the Children Uganda told The Independent the requirement to pay a fee could be the cause of low uptake of new vaccines like rotavirus and pneumococcal conjugate; especially in poor rural areas. Many parents cannot afford them.