Belize Introduces Pediatric Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine to National Program

The Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW) has added a new vaccine, the pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) into the national vaccination programme. The vaccine caters to children five years old and under to protect them from the pneumococcus bacteria, one of the most common causes of pneumonia in children. The Ministry is starting the rollout with a donation of vaccines from the Government of Brazil and will be ensuring the vaccine’s availability when the initial batch runs out. Dr. Natalia Beer, Maternal and Child Health Technical Advisor explained how the vaccines will be rolled out and where they will be available.

Dr.Natalia Beer, Maternal and Child Health Technical Advisor: “We were privileged enough to receive 20,000 doses as a donation from Brazil and the PCV or Pneumococalgonjucate Vaccine can prevent Pneumococcal diseases. When we talk about Pneumococcal disease we’re referring to any illness caused by the Pneumococcal bacteria and the type of illnesses that are caused by the Pneumococcal bacteria are for example ear infections, sinus infections, meningitis which means inflammation of the tissue covering the brain and spinal cord and anyone can be infected but persons that have greater risk are children below two years and elderlies sixty five years and older and persons with certain medical conditions. We only have the pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine at this moment, we’re working on the vaccines for the elderly. The vaccines are administered to children below one year at two months , four months and six monts of age, three doses. For older children twelve to fifty nine months the recommended dose is at two. So whenever they get the first dose then eight weeks after we administer this second dose. So the vaccine will be available at urban and rural health facilities. We also provide it or administer vaccines during mobile clinics and any other type of outreach sessions where vaccinations are ongoing the pneumococcal vaccines will be there.”

According to the Ministry there were almost 6,000 cases of pneumonia diagnosed in Belize between 2018 and 2022, with the most affected groups being children below five years and the elderly above sixty years. The ministry added that the expansion of the national vaccine schedule to include PCV is in line with global trends as 164 countries out of 194 World Health Organization member states have introduced PCV into their National Immunization Programs. These countries include Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, The Bahamas, Aruba, Anguilla, Jamaica, Montserrat, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.