The Ministry of Public Health has launched a major campaign to vaccinate 1.3 million children against different preventable diseases. The DR has eradicated many diseases that affect infants and children and the vaccination campaigns are important to maintain the health advances. The children will receive vaccinations for polio, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DPT). All the vaccinations are free.
Some 181,369 doss of the DPT vaccine will be given to children under 7 years of age who are enrolled in public schools. Another 513,669 doses of diphtheria and tetanus vaccines will be given to public school children seven years of age or older. Likewise, 1.5 million boys and girls up to the age of 14 will receive a dose of Albendazole of 400 milligrams to treat neurocysticercosis, an infection caused by the pork tapeworm.
By 3 May, the Ministry expects to have vaccinated 685,905 children against polio from newborns to the age of three. This delivery of these health services will be through a door-to-door campaign as well as through fixed vaccination stations and mobile health units.
The Ministry says that this year the rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines are available, and that 10-year old girls will receive the vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus that has been linked to increased risk of cancers of the cervix.
http://www.msp.gob.do/MSP-inicia-XI-Semana-de-Vacunacion-de-las-Americas