KARACHI – Pakistan has become the first country in the world to introduce a new typhoid vaccine, sources said Friday, as the country deals with an ongoing outbreak of the potentially fatal disease.

Sindh has been the most affected by typhoid with 10,000 cases been documented since 2017.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved a vaccine that will be used during a two-week immunization campaign in Southern Sindh province.

Azra Pechuho, the health minister in Sindh province, said in Karachi on Friday,

 

“The two-week campaign beginning from today would target over 10 million children of nine months to 15 years of age.”

The new vaccines have been provided by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to the Pakistani government without cost.

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After the two-week campaign, it will be introduced into routine immunisations in Sindh, and in other areas of Pakistan in the future.

In 2017, 63 percent of the typhoid cases documented and 70 percent of the failures were children, according to a joint press release from the Pakistani government, WHO and Gavi.