Children in 3 states were given contaminated polio vaccine, finds the health department

In an unfortunate turn up of event, children from certain areas in Maharashtra, Telengana and Uttar Pradesh were administered polio vaccines contaminated with type-2 polio virus, said the health ministry.

Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published: October 3, 2018 5:58 pm

Children in three states were given contaminated polio vaccine © Shutterstock

Parents watch this out before you take your child for a polio vaccine from now on. Some vials of the oral polio vaccines that were administered to children in Maharashtra, Telengana and Uttar Pradesh, were contaminated with the type-2 polio virus, stated the health ministry officials. A recent media report highlighted that these vials were manufactured by a Ghaziabad-based pharmaceutical company. The ministry has already issued advisories to the three states, asking them to make polio surveillance teams track the children who have been given the contaminated vaccines.

Not just that, the surveillance teams have been ordered to monitor these children and watch out their symptoms closely. According to the health ministry officials, it is important to observe how the virus behaves in human body. The government has come up with a committee to look into the contamination of some batches of the vaccine.

The official reportedly said: “There is a well-defined surveillance mechanism in the country to identify any symptoms of polio in the affected places and the government is in a position to address any eventuality. There is no need to panic. The polio surveillance team in the three states have been asked to step up the monitoring of all those children who have been given the vaccine and keep a close watch for any symptoms.”

He reportedly informed that the health ministry also ensured that under its national immunisation program, inactivated polio virus (IPV) injections are being administered to each and every child belonging to the concerned areas of the three states where contaminated vaccine has been administered. This is to ensure that no child is missed. According to experts, IPV is made from wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype that have been killed with formalin.

The health ministry officials highlighted that as of now, only one batch containing 50,000 vials were found to be contaminated with strains of type-2 polio virus. The department is suspecting two more batches including 1 lakh vials to be contaminated with the virus.

Published: October 3, 2018 5:58 pm

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