Mass Vaccinations for Children hit by Haiyan

[darksai]

Once again, and hardly surprising, our ponerized global society steps in to pour salt on the wounds of those who are suffering most.
_http://www.news24.com/World/News/Mass-vaccinations-for-children-hit-by-Haiyan-20131127

Tacloban - A mass vaccination programme has been launched in Philippine communities that were devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan to protect children against measles and polio, UN agencies said on Wednesday.

The campaign began this week with 30 000 children being vaccinated in Tacloban city, one of the places hardest hit when Haiyan claimed thousands of lives nearly three weeks ago, the United Nations Children's Fund Unicef and World Health Organisation said.

"The children of Tacloban need all the protection they can get right now," Unicef emergency response co-ordinator Angela Kearney said in a joint statement by the agencies.

"Disease is a silent predator, but we know how to prevent it and we will do everything that we can."

Sigrun Roesel, team leader of the WHO's Philippine immunisation programme, said the sometimes crowded and insanitary conditions at evacuation centres were potential breeding grounds for disease. [So let's line them all up among foreigners to give them shots.. we all saw how that worked out in Haiti when the so-called "Peace Corps" arrived on the scene..]

Reach 500 000

"Measles is a dangerous disease for young children, who could then catch pneumonia and die from it, especially if they are malnourished [and have a cripple immune system in a toxin-loaded body! ]," Roesel said.

She said the measles virus was a particular concern because it could easily be transmitted through coughing and sneezing.

Roesel said the Philippines had its last polio case in 1993.

"But Filipinos do a lot of international travelling and so there is a special effort to protect against its possible re-introduction," she said.

The UN said the vaccination programme would aim to reach 500 000 children across the disaster zone, which covers dozens of ruined towns mainly on Leyte and Samar islands, two of the poorest in the country.

The government's confirmed the death toll from Haiyan, which brought some of the strongest winds ever recorded and tsunami-like storm surges, rose by about 250 to 5 500, with another 1 757 people missing.

 

[angelburst29]

More here on the massive vaccination program in the Philippines.

_http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/no-polio-in-the-philippines-since-1993-but-mass-polio-vaccination-program-targeted-for-500000-typhoon-victims-under-age-5/

This past week, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF began an aggressive program to vaccinate more than 500,000 children with the measles and polio vaccines in the typhoon affected areas of the Philippines. They have already vaccinated more than 30,000 children in Tacolban, one of the worst hit areas.

“It is virtually unprecedented that within two and a half weeks of a disaster of this scale, with this level of devastation and these logistical challenges, that a mass vaccination campaign is already rolling out,” reported Dr. Julie Hall, WHO representative in the Philippines.

The children are being vaccinated for measles and polio, in spite of the fact that measles rates are very low and declining in the Philippines, and that there has not been a single case of polio in the Philippines since 1993.

In the video below, Heather Papowitz, a senior advisor for UNICEF, states that they are vaccinating children for measles even though they have already been vaccinated for the disease, because previous vaccine campaigns were, ”not enough to protect them, so we need to get them vaccinated as soon as possible.”

The children are being vaccinated for measles and polio, in spite of the fact that measles rates are very low and declining in the Philippines, and that there has not been a single case of polio in the Philippines since 1993.

In a report published in the Lancet (free registration required to read) in 2004, it was revealed that in the countries where UNICEF was working, deaths of children under the age of 5 actually increased! Is it a coincidence that this is the same age group UNICEF targets with their vaccine programs? The countries that experienced the greatest increase in deaths were all poor countries: India (2·4 million deaths), Nigeria (834 000 deaths), China (784 000 deaths), Pakistan (565 000 deaths), Democratic Republic of Congo (484 000 deaths), and Ethiopia (472 000 deaths). Will the Philippines now be added to this tragic list?

The largest funding entity to UNICEF is the U.S. Government. People in the Philippines and other poorer countries need to understand that the U.S. Government, unlike any other government in the world, has passed laws giving 100% legal immunity to pharmaceutical companies for any harm or damage that occurs as a result of vaccine adverse effects.

 

[angelburst29]

Not only mass vaccinations slated for the Philippines but also, the Middle East and Syria. Again, the targetted group are children - age 5 years old and younger.

Over 23 Million children to be vaccinated in mass Polio Immunization Campaign across the Middle East
_http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/polio-vaccination-2013209/en/index.html

9 December 2013 | CAIRO, AMMAN - The largest-ever immunization response in the Middle East is under way this week, aiming to vaccinate more than 23 million children against polio in Syria and neighbouring countries over the coming weeks.

The campaign is a crucial part of the response to an outbreak of the virus-borne disease in Syria, where 17 cases have so far been confirmed, and to the detection of the virus in environmental samples in other parts of the Middle East.

In order to stop the outbreak and prevent further spread, organizers aim to vaccinate, repeatedly over the next few months, all children under the age of 5, whether they are living at home or displaced by conflict. Depending on the area, vaccination will be offered at fixed sites at populous locations or by going from house to house. The activities are carried out by national and local health authorities supported by UNICEF, WHO, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other partners.

Inside Syria, the campaign aims to reach 2.2 million children, including those who live in contested areas and those who were missed in an earlier campaign. Many children in Syria remain inaccessible, particularly those trapped in sealed off areas or living in areas where conflict is ongoing.

Despite the gaps in coverage, initial information suggests that vaccine is getting to more areas of Syria than has so far been the case for health interventions delivered as part of the larger ongoing humanitarian effort. In parallel with the vaccination effort, work is going on to bolster systems for verifying coverage data in upcoming campaigns inside the war-torn country.

“All Syrian children should be protected from disease,” noted Dr. Ala Alwan, Regional Director, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. “To eradicate polio, we need to eradicate any reason for failing to reach children. We appeal to all parties of the conflict in Syria to cooperate and facilitate pauses in hostilities over the coming 6 months to allow vaccination campaigns to reach all children.”

“As if children in Syria had not suffered enough, they now have to contend with yet another threat to their health and well-being,” said Maria Calivis, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “The current polio vaccination efforts are a huge undertaking by many partners, but we can only halt the spread of the virus if we reach those children who have remained out of reach."

Over the coming months, UNICEF is planning to deliver 10 million doses of polio vaccine to Syria. The first shipment of 2 million vaccines arrived in Damascus on Friday 29 November.

The total cost to UNICEF and WHO of supporting the seven-country polio response from November through April is US$ 39 million, based on a strategic plan developed for the Middle East.

Note to editors
As of 26 November, 17 children have been paralyzed by polio in Syria: 15 of these children are in the contested governorate of Deir Ez Zour, 1 is in Aleppo and another in Douma, near Damascus. Prior to this outbreak, no polio cases have been recorded in Syria since 1999. The risk of spread to countries in the region and beyond is considered high, and health authorities from 21 countries have declared a public health emergency. Further polio immunization campaigns will be repeated across the region. In Syria, they will be carried out at monthly intervals until April 2014.

Genetically-related polioviruses, which originated in Pakistan, have also been detected in sewage samples in Egypt in December 2012, and in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip earlier in 2013.

Inside Syria and for the past 2 years, immunization activities have been significantly constrained by ongoing conflict. Cold chain equipment in many districts has been lost and many mobile health teams have not been able to perform regular visits. This has led to missing out on vaccinating between 500 000–700 000 children in these areas.