KATHMANDU: The government is planning to include a new vaccine named pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) against pneumococcal pneumonia in its regular inoculation schedule from the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The Ministry of Health and Population is including this vaccine in the regular calendar from July 17, the officials confirmed. The PCV would be inoculated to the infants thrice. The Ministry, however, had already launched the PCV in some districts informally.

Chief of the Child Health Division at the Ministry, Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel, said that the vaccine would be given to the babies in sixth week, tenth week and ninth month of their birth in all district across the country.

With the beginning of the new vaccine, the children in Nepal are supposed to be vaccinated for seven times against 12 diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis, polio, encephalitis, measles and rubeola, whooping cough and others.

The first PCV would be administered to the infants along with the DPT and polio drops.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 17 per cent of the child’s death in Nepal is caused due to pneumonia. The PCV is the most effective and best measure for the control of pneumonia, vaccine expert at the WHO Nepal Office, Dr Rajendra Bohara, said.

The WHO is providing economic and technical assistances to the Ministry for long to run the vaccination programme