Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launches pentavalent vaccine

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launched the pentavalent vaccine at a ceremony at the People Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on 12 July 2012. This vaccine introduction “will mean that now around 350,000 children under one will be vaccinated every year against Hib” in addition to other diseases. The DPR Korea “will continue to co-finance the cost of GAVI vaccines at US$834,000 from 2012 to 2015.” GAVI said that, working closely with WHO and UNICEF which have staff in the country, it has supported DPR Korea since 2001 and “has helped the country strengthen its immunisation systems, including a major upgrade of the cold chain system to ensure sufficient space for introduction of pentavalent and potentially other new vaccines such as rotavirus and pneumococcal…” The announcement noted that “DPR Korea is one of the few countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve consistently high coverage for vaccines. There have been no reported cases of poliomyelitis since 1996 and no measles since the mass vaccination campaign in April 2007.” http://www.gavialliance.org/library/news/gavi-features/2012/dpr-korea-introduces-pentavalent-vaccine/