During the COVID-19 pandemic, many mothers experienced moments of uncertainty and despair because they were unable to go to the health centers for examinations or to take their children in for their regular vaccination checkups.
Concerned about the risk to children under 5 and pregnant women, health workers with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) mobilized health teams to implement different vaccination strategies aimed at catching up and increasing the vaccination coverage rate.
Pando has a population of 18,532 children under 5, an age group that is highly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases.
Because of the COVID-19 lockdown, the coverage rate for the pentavalent vaccine this year was only 37% of the population under 5. That percentage is equivalent to only 1,395 vaccinated children under 1 year of age. For the current year, the goal is to remedy the low coverage rates, based on information provided by the departmental EPI.
Information on vaccines is a tool of vital importance to ensure that mothers know the importance and benefits of vaccines.
As a result of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Cobija, Pando, María Montaño Arauz, a 19-year old mother who is seven months pregnant and has a 1-year-old daughter, had to stop going in for her prenatal checkups.
Staying at home was particularly tricky for María’s family, and it was distressing to be in that situation with María pregnant.
Litzi, a nursing aide with the Perla del Acre Health Center in the neighborhood where María lives, discovered this family living in conditions of vulnerability when combing the area to look for children under age 5.
The nurse came by to do the prenatal checkup and explain that the family should continue with their children’s vaccination and go back to the health centers, following all biosafety measures.
The pentavalent vaccine is important for the infant population under the age of five. It is a combination vaccine that protects these children from the following diseases:
-
Whooping cough: a serious respiratory disease that is highly contagious.
-
Diphtheria: a serious infection caused by bacteria that affects the nose and throat.
-
Tetanus: a bacterial disease that affects the central nervous system and enters the body through wounds or cuts.
-
Haemophilus influenzae type b: this bacterium causes different diseases, from skin problems to severe infections such as meningitis.
-
Hepatitis B: a viral infection that affects the liver and is transmitted by body fluids or the blood of infected people
Mrs. Men is thankful for the work the health workers do in Cobija. Like other mothers, she knows that vaccines are essential for children and for people in general, since they offer protection from diseases are often fatal.
María has returned for prenatal checkups to ensure a safe birth. She now knows that when her baby is born she should start the vaccination schedule so that the child will grow up protected and healthy.
