By Sylivester Domasa & Florence Mugarula
THE Ministry of
Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children has
announced that Hepatitis B vaccine is only for high-risk groups and
children under the age of 18 years who now get
vaccinated at their
infancy stage.
The ministry said
that the Hepatitis B vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine recommended
for all infants at birth and for children up to 18 years.
According to the
World Health Organisation (WHO), the Hepatitis B vaccine is also
recommended for adults living with diabetes and those at high risk of
infection due to their jobs, lifestyle, or country of birth.
Responding to a
question posed by Taska Mbogo (Special Seats-CCM), the Deputy Minister
of Health, Dr Faustine Ndugulile said the government has been
vaccinating all children, saying that the vaccine should be administered
to adults but at a shared cost.
Ms Mbogo had
observed that Hepatitis B was among deadly diseases which are fatal to
unvaccinated persons, but the government had not emphasized that all
people should be administered with the vaccine.
She wanted to know
whether the government had a plan in line to help all nationals who have
not been vaccinated to receive the key protection.
Dr Ndugulile said
since 2002, the government has been administering the pentavalent
vaccine to infants to protect them from tetanus, whooping cough,
hepatitis and DPT-HepB-Hib.
"This means all the children who were born since 2002 have been protected," he emphasized.
He went on to
explain that for other nationals who were born before 2002 and simply
couldn't be vaccinated, the government had thus identified key groups
that will receive hepatitis B vaccine through shared cost.
He named the groups as high-risk groups whose jobs are related with coming into contact with affected people.
It includes health officers, laboratory attendants, mortuary attendants and field doctors.
Other groups
include blood donors, drug users, prisoners, patient caretakers, people
with multiple partners and people with HIV, TB infection, diabetes among
other related diseases.
"We also recommend long-distance truck drivers and their supporting crew should also get vaccinated," he said.
The deputy minister
said the vaccination process is currently administered at all regional
hospitals and is expected to be available at all district hospitals.
"Like I said, this
vaccine is not a necessity to all people, but those in need can follow
the right procedure to get the vaccine," he insisted.
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