State ill-equipped to screen kids

Union health minister J.P. Nadda inaugurated pentavalent vaccines in Maharashtra with much fanfare on Monday, but the state lacks the infrastructure to investigate the associated health issues of infants before vaccinating them, which can lead to hospitalisation and death.
Every year, thousands of children are injected with vaccines to bring down the mortality rate. Most of the newborns are provided with vaccines within the first few weeks of birth. But there are many cases where infants succumb after vaccination due to ‘Adverse Effect of Immunisation’, known as AEFI.