The Government of India has launched the Pentavalent vaccine in Kerala for the first time with an aim to decrease the infant mortality rate. The Pentavalent Vaccine which was proposed earlier was launched by the Health Minister Adoor Prakash in a Women and Children Hospital, Thycaud, Kerala on December 15, 2011.

The pentavalent vaccine will replace the existing trivalent vaccine (DPT) which gives immunity against Diptheria, Pertussis and Tetanus.

The pentavalent vaccine has been launched in Kerala, as a part of national immunization programme. By launching this preventive vaccination, India has become the 171st country to adopt his vaccine. The pentavalent vaccine has proved to be very effective in countries like US, UK and other European and African countries.

What is Pentavalent Vaccine ?

Pentavalent Vaccine prevents infants and children from 5 life threatening diseases namely Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib. The pentavalent vaccine will additionally hold preventive medicine for diseases caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b. This includes includes pneumonia, bacteremia, septic arthritis and other diseases.

Giving a pentavalent vaccine to a child will give protection from all five diseases. The hib vaccine will help prevent 1/3 of life threatening cases from dying, especially in Asia. Addition of this pentavalent vaccine to India will help in decreasing the death toll due to hib by 20 percent as India holds more number of hib cases.

Next to Kerala, the pentavalent vaccine will be launched in Tamil Nadu.Government of India has already chosen the hospitals for introducing the pentavalent in Tamil Nadu and has ordered to build up a surveillance system to calculate the effective functioning of this vaccine.

The regular Hepatitis B and DPT primary vaccination will be replaced by the pentavalent vaccine in the regular immunization programme. Hepatitis B dose will be continued along with this vaccine. The penatavalent vaccine in India will be available in liquid formulation.