Departments across the country are responding to calls to
prevent further spread of the type C meningitis outbreak.
An official from the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and
Control said at a press conference yesterday that the capital's
health departments have started to immunize the most vulnerable
people, and a total of 300,000 vaccines are now available.
Priority will be given to migrant workers and their children
since they are likely to travel home over
Spring Festival to areas where there have been infections, said
Sun Meiping, director of the center's Institute of Immunity and
Prevention.
From yesterday afternoon, three-days of vaccinations targeting
school-age children and migrant workers below the age of 40
began.
Some hospitals in the city and its suburbs will also offer
immunization from today, according to Sun.
Hundreds of local people rushed their children to the center to
get vaccinated after 16 deaths and 258 cases nationwide were
reported in the media.
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday that
the outbreak appeared to be routine and the fact that the number of
cases was higher than normal could be due to improved
surveillance.
WHO spokesperson Roy Wadia was quoted by Reuters as saying that
there were no signs the authorities were concealing information
about the outbreak.
Vaccine supplies will be adequate to meet demand, an official
from the China National Biotec Corporation in Lanzhou, Gansu
Province told Xinhua News Agency.
The company is the only manufacturer of type A and type C
meningitis vaccines in China, producing 350,000 to 400,000 units
daily.
Authorities in other regions were also working to contain the
infection's transmission.
Shanghai kindergartens have begun to take a series of measures,
such as strict morning physical exams, to prevent it from spreading
among preschool children, officials from the Shanghai Education
Commission announced yesterday.
Fifteen cases of the disease have been found in Jiangsu
Province, according to the provincial center for disease prevention
and control.
In Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 11 cases have been reported,
including two deaths, according to the Guangdong Center for Disease
Prevention and Control.
(China Daily February 3, 2005)
