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Reaffirming the status of a polio-free state in India, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement in which they stated that because of India's high routine immunization coverage, there is a risk that contaminated polio vaccines are "minimal".
WHO and UNICEF consider polio vaccines safe
The polio-free Indian status is at stake when at least three batches of polio vaccines, containing between 50,000 and 1,5 lakh flasks, are infected with poliovirus type 2, eliminated by the government in April 2016. The times of India said the vaccines had been manufactured by a company based in Ghaziabad, Biomed, and had been administered to children in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana. This created a sense of panic among citizens who feared their children would be exposed to the virus if they were vaccinated.
However, repressing all concerns, both agencies said the universal vaccination program (UIP) was safe and urged people to vaccinate their children in order to preserve India from polio. According to NDTV, the statement states: "Certified polio-free in March 2014, India continues to be vigilant with respect to all three types of poliovirus. The last case of poliovirus caused by wild poliovirus in the country was detected on 13 January 2011. "The agencies also praised the government's efforts to remove the contaminated vaccines and said that" the immediate withdrawal of these vaccines demonstrates that it is safe. Government's commitment to health. children. "
The Ministry of Health of the Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) have increased their vigilance in these three states in particular. In addition, the general manager of the company was arrested by police on September 27. On Saturday, 29 September, the Central Organization for the Control of Pharmaceutical Standards (CDSCO) also set up a three-member team to investigate the serious violation of regulatory measures taken by doctors. The team should start investigating possible causes of contamination by Wednesday, October 3rd. The company was also asked to stop manufacturing and selling vaccines until further notice.
Why is the Polio Type 2 offense problematic?
The WHO officially declared that India was "polio-free" in March 2014, while the type 2 strain contained in the vaccines was withdrawn in 2016. As a result, the Indian government, complying with the WHO guidelines on polio strategy, has the stockpiles of polio vaccine (OPV) to be destroyed by April 2016, after which all polio vaccines should be bivalent and contain only those polio vaccines. type 1 and type 3 viruses. A senior official said The telegraph the CDSCO is trying to find out how Biomed has released the type 2 vaccines for the government's immunization program.
The violation also endangers the health of babies born after April 2016, the year of the gradual elimination of type 2 vaccines in the world and in India. according to LiveMint, the comthe company only provided polio vaccines for the government-run immunization program and 50,000 vials of contaminated vaccines may have already been used in the three states mentioned above. Unused lots were recalled and stored in the warehouses, while 13 batches of samples were tested by the Central Drugs Laboratory.
The news of poliovirus type 2 contamination was revealed when WHO discovered signs of the virus in stool samples from its routine surveillance reports in Uttar Pradesh. After further evaluation, the contamination was confirmed. All OPV contain weakened poliovirus strains that vaccinated children excrete in their stools. However, in rare cases, these live viruses can regain strength and cause paralysis in children.
According to our information, the recent error can not be swept away as the disease may re-emerge in India. In addition, all vaccine lot samples are routinely screened in government laboratories. Although poliomyelitis has been eradicated in India, the country continues to carry out mass vaccination campaigns against the disease, using bivalent polio vaccinations to maintain high immunity.
As emphasized by WHO and UNICEF, it is paramount to continue the immunization program to protect children from the eradicated disease of India.
Read also: Polio virus returns to Gujarat after ignoring WHO vaccine alert
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