THE government may increase the number of days on which vaccines are administered under the State's vaccination drive, Director of Public Health and Medicine Dr P Padmanabhan has said. As of now, vaccines are administered every Wednesday by Village Health Nurses, usually in schools or anganwadis.

The state government is taking out a massive immunisation programme to protect adolescent girls against cervical cancer. This is the first programme of its kind in the country and is being undertaken with the help of the World Health Organisation. "We are going to take up a pilot project in the state from next month," said the joint director (immunology), Dr G. Srinivasa Rao.

Rule Out Fault In Cold Chain System All four children who died after being administered the measles vaccine in Tamil Nadu on April 23 suffered severe brain haemorrhage resulting from an anaphylactic shock, an inquiry has found.

KOLKATA: It's good news for the children suffering from rotavirus diarrhoea as rota vaccine is all set to be launched in the city soon. Confirming that the vaccine will be launched in the month of May, Dr Jaydeep Choudhury, assistant professor, department of pediatrics, Institute of Child Health said : "In India more than one lakh children die of rotavirus diarrhoea. If the oral vaccine is administered to babies aged between one and a half month to six months then the chances of falling prey to any severe viral gastroenteritis get minimised.'

A new set of procedures to administer vaccines to children will be tried in the State, following the death of four infants in Tiruvallur district after measles vaccination. Vaccination The Directorate of Public Health (DPH) is contemplating a model wherein children in a particular district would be brought to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in their block for vaccination instead of carrying the vaccine to village health centres.

In the wake of the casualties of children reported from Tiruvalluvar district of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan Government on Friday suspended the administration of measles vaccine in Jodhpur division of the State. The vaccine stocks, which reached there three days back, belong to the same source as of the Tamil Nadu, where it had resulted in four deaths.

Four children died in southern India after getting measles vaccinations at state-run clinics and the state has suspended use of the vaccine, health officials said Thursday. It was not yet clear exactly what caused the deaths, said Tamil Nadu state's director of public health, P Padmanabhan. Vaccine samples have been sent to a government-run laboratory for investigations, he said.

The sudden death of four children after they were administered measles vaccine in primary health centres in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district is a grievous tragedy. That the deaths should occur in a State with a better record of health services delivery at the primary level is ironical. The involvement of the vaccine belonging to the same batch in different health centres seems to indicate problems with quality, which could have occurred at the point of manufacture, d uring transfer or storage.

The Centre has recalled the measles vaccine, after the administration of which four children died in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district on Wednesday. Instructions have been issued to the States to stop the use of this vaccine until further orders, while the manufacturer has been asked to not to make any further supply, Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told journalists here on Thursday. An experts committee would enquire into the causes of the death and submit its report within two weeks. Thereafter action would be taken, he said.

MEASLES vaccine comes in powder form. It must be used immediately after it is mixed with a fluid, says Dr Jacob John, former professor of the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Virology . Multi-vial doses of these vaccines must be used within four hours; else they will act as a medium for growing bacteria that can secrete toxins, he says.