Monday at the Marriott Hotel, US Ambassador to Haiti Michèle Jeanne Sison participed with Minister of Health Greta Roy Clement at the launch of the PCV13 pneumococcal vaccine, required for babies to protect them against pneumonia, meningitis, sinusitis, otitis and sepsis...

Divided into three doses, the vaccine should be administered to the baby before 11 months of age. The first dose at one month and a half (during the 6th week), the second at two and a half months (during the 10th week), the last at three and a half months (during the 14th week).

Minister Clement recalled that this vaccine had already been present in Haiti for several years, but that it was only available to parents who could pay 5,000 gourdes or more to get it, announcing "From now on, October 29, 2018, it is available free to all babies on the national territory."

Ambassador Sion congratulated the Government of Haiti for assuming its co-financing responsibility of $ 1.2 million and urged it to continue to include increased national funding for health. For his part, Homero Hermandez, representative of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) informs that GAVI will co-finance this vaccine for $ 2.1 million.

It should be noted that the launch of this vaccine is due to the collaboration between the Ministry of Public Health, the VAVA Alliance, GAVI, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), UNICEF and the US Government, among other key partners .

TB/ HaitiLibre