By Donald G. McNeil, Jr.
Haiti, which did a poor job of vaccinating its children even before the 2010 earthquake, has come up with a plan to immunize 90 percent of its newborns by 2015, the Pan American Health Organization announced last week.
The country now needs over $100 million to carry it out.
Assuming that GAVI — the former Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization — approves the plan, Haiti will be the last country in this hemisphere to adopt a pentavalent vaccine that protects against Haemophilus influenzae type B, or Hib, and hepatitis B, as well as diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus. The plan will also include the relatively new rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines.
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