LAHORE: The Punjab chief minister has sanctioned Rs 150 million for the procurement of rotavirus vaccine to prevent diarrheal deaths, which have raised to nearly 4,500 per year in the province. The Punjab government would be the first province to introduce rotavirus vaccine in routine immunisation. The Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) would launch the rotavirus vaccine at the end this year in six districts. Punjab would get Rs 72 billion from the federal government as share from the international health donor agency, Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunisation (GAVI), in next five years. Major chunk of the amount would be utilised for vaccine procurement, an official privy to this development told Daily Times on Friday. The official said that rotavirus was a very common and highly contagious virus that causes gastroenteritis, dehydration and potentially death. According to a health expert, rotavirus infection is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in young children worldwide and it is estimated that 527,000 deaths occur every year due to diarrheal diseases caused by rotavirus gastroenteritis. He said an estimated 140,000 infants in Pakistan suffer from severe rotavirus gastroenteritis annually out of which nearly 40,000 die each year. With more than 100 children losing their lives every day to this disease, Pakistan is one included among the top three countries with most rotavirus-related deaths worldwide. He said more than 4,500 children below five years of age die due to diarrhea in Punjab every year. The vaccine is effective in preventing rotavirus gastroenteritis and the accompanying diarrhea and other complications, he added. EPI Health Services Director Dr Muneer Ahmad said that rotavirus vaccine would be the 10th vaccine to be introduced as part of the immunisation programme. The vaccine, to be administered in two dozes, would help reduce the number of deaths among children who are less than five years of age, he added. Ahmad said rotavirus vaccine would be introduced in phases, adding that the provincial government has accorded Rs 150 million funds for its procurement. “Vaccine would be administrated to the children living in Lahore, Kasur, Khushab, Mandi Bahuddin, Multan and Muzaffar Garh at the end of 2016. In January 2017, vaccine will be introduced in rest of the province,” he concluded.