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New Delhi, September 30 (PTI) After traces of Polio Virus Type 2 were found in some batches of oral polio vaccine manufactured by a Ghaziabad-based pharmaceutical company, the Ministry of Health asked the team to who received the vaccine.
Since the vaccine was administered as part of the government's universal vaccination program, the ministry also ordered the immediate withdrawal of the vaccine from the manufacturer.
The strain of polio virus type 2 has been eradicated worldwide, including in India.
The polio surveillance team was asked to look for all the children to whom this vaccine was administered. They will also be monitored to see how the virus behaves in their bodies, said an official of the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health ordered a probe after traces of polio virus type 2 were found in some lots of oral polio vaccine (OPV) manufactured by the company and arrested the company's general manager on Saturday.
The chief executive of Biomed Pvt Ltd., which provided polio vaccines for government-run immunization programs alone, was arrested after the Central Drug Regulator filed a claim for compensation in this case.
India's Comptroller General of Medicines has also asked the company to stop "manufacturing, selling or distributing until new orders".
"The company has five directors. While the director general was arrested, we asked the police to find the other directors, because they must also be questioned, "said a government official.
According to the head of the Ministry of Health, the contamination was revealed after Uttar Pradesh surveillance reports showed signs of virus in stool samples of some children.
Immediately, the OPVs were sent for tests that confirmed that some of them were infected with the type 2 virus.
The ministry also alerted the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra on the assumption that the vaccine could be used there.
The destruction of traces of Polio Virus Type 2 was ordered by the central drug regulator to all manufacturers in 2016. PTI PLB
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