VACCINATION: HOPE FOR NEWBORN MUMS

MBABANE – Finally there is hope for mothers of newborns and infants as government has procured the much needed vaccination that has been out of stock for four months.

Government has secured the Bacilli Calmette- Guerin (BCG), a vaccination for tuberculosis (TB) and oral pollovirus vaccine (OPV) which is used to protect against Polio. Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said all routine vaccines for children were now available after being out of for four months. When question on how many babies had missed their vaccines and when it was likely for them to receive same, he said they had the information but would not share it with the media. However, he assured that mothers of babies were being reached by phone calls as their numbers were registered by the clinic and hospital staff. “We will also use our radio slots to send the message to the public and inform them that vaccines were now available,” said the director.

Unfortunate

He said the delay was unfortunate for the newborns but there was no harm done since they would now be able to receive all their vaccinations that were due.  Dr Magagula said there were more than enough vaccines and the ministry would be distributing them to the health facilities. Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) General Secretary Mayibongwe Masanga said they welcomed the good news by government. Masangane said there was a lack of the syringes to administer the BCG.  He mentioned that pregnant women supplements were out of stock for a while but have since been replenished. 

Masangane said the situation at the maternity ward was quite bad without the supplements as there were possibilities that women may carry their babies for nine months and at the end deliver newborns with neural tube defects. The neural tube defects are birth defects of the brain, spine or spinal cord. They happen in the first month of pregnancy, even before the women know about the pregnancy.

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