150,000 Indian Children Could Have Received Contaminated Poliomyelitis Vaccines – Precision Vaccinations

The World Health Organization (WHO) said a "batch of contaminated polio vaccine contaminated in India" presented a "minimal risk of contracting the polio virus in India," Reuters reported.

The Indian Ministry of Health has issued advice to all three states to ensure that polio surveillance teams find the children to whom the contaminated vaccines have been administered.

Some vials of oral poliomyelitis vaccine contaminated with type 2 poliovirus have been administered to children in Maharashtra and Telangana, in addition to Uttar Pradesh, officials from the Ministry of Health confirmed.

Health officials in New Delhi said they were investigating why and how the products of Bio-Med Pvt Ltd, based in northern India, were still producing such vaccines, and that the batches concerned were recalled.

Local media in India reported that police arrested Bio-Med's chief executive after routine testing revealed that he had manufactured and shipped about 150,000 batches of oral polio vaccine containing type 2 virus. .

This strain of polio virus that had been eradicated worldwide and the Indian government had ordered the discontinuation of this type of vaccine in 2016.

In the past, lots of typhoid vaccines produced by Bio-Med were also referred to as "non-standard quality", according to a public notice issued by the Central Drug Standard Control Organization on March 14, 2018.

Shamila Sharma, a spokeswoman for WHO, said: "All risk for children is minimal because of the high vaccination coverage against routine polio in India."

The Ministry of Health, as part of its national immunization program, will also ensure that inactivated poliovirus injections (IPVs) are administered to each child in the three states so that no children are forgotten. said the manager.

VPI is produced from wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype that have been inactivated (killed) with formalin.

In recent years, US and European regulators have criticized many Indian drug factories for their faulty manufacturing practices, often issuing warnings or bans, Reuters said.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), polio has been eliminated in the United States since 1979.

Since 2000, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) has been the only polio vaccine (4 doses) administered to people in the United States, says the CDC.

Vaccination against IPV is now an obligation when visiting various countries of the world.

Appointments for poliomyelitis vaccination can be easily scheduled at Vax-Before-Travel.

And discounts on vaccines can be found here.

Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. We encourage you to report adverse reactions to vaccines to the FDA or CDC.