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Vaccine-preventable Childhood Illnesses: Pharmacists Module 5, 2024
Now more than ever, ensuring that children are up to date with their routine immunisations is crucially important. This module brings you up-to-speed with the latest changes in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa (EPI-SA). It covers how vaccines work and addresses common misconceptions. The pharmacist is ideally positioned to play a key role in promoting vaccine confidence and increasing vaccination uptake in order to help prevent and ultimately eliminate potentially dangerous infectious illnesses.
Despite the many successes of the EPI, we now see a large backslide in childhood vaccinations. In June 2024, UNICEF announced that approximately 200,000 children in South Africa are so-called “zero-dose” children, meaning that they are not fully vaccinated against any childhood illnesses at all.
This module discusses common vaccine-preventable childhood illnesses and provides an update on the revised EPI schedule and vaccines available in the private (and public) sector. It also addresses the challenges of vaccine hesitancy and emphasises the role pharmacists play as a trusted source of information in addressing vaccine hesitancy to improve immunisation coverage.
For more information about this programme, contact Glynis or Gill at Insight Medicine Information at 011 706 6939 or email: cpdalphapharm@insightmed.co.za
