Vaccination is presently being carried out in East New Britain Province for children between the ages of six months to 15 years.
A program called the “special integrated routine expanded program on immunisation” involves the routine vaccines that are being used to inoculate children under the age of one.
More than 30 health clinics and facilities in Kokopo, Gazelle and Rabaul districts have gone into communities to facilitate this program.
The SIREP Plus contains the normal routine vaccines and the inclusion of new vaccines and these include the measles rubella (MR), inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and the pneumococcal vaccine (PCV 13).
This SIREP Plus is a new routine that is being implemented by the ENB Provincial Health Authority for children generally from 15 years down to 6 months, whereas the normal SIREP routine is for children at the age of one and below.