New Delhi, Nov 14 (Inditop.com) India will soon introduce the bivalent oral polio vaccine (BoPV), which will protect children against two dangerous strain of the deadly paralytic disease, union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here Saturday.
“The government will very soon introduce bivalent oral polio vaccine (BoPV) to attack the type 1 and type 3 virus. It will help us to deal with the fresh outbreak of type 3 virus,” Azad said after administering polio drops to street children during a special polio vaccine campaign.
He said BoPV plays an important role in rapidly eliminating type 3 virus and sustaining high level of immunity against type 1.
Type 1 is the most dangerous form of polio virus as it can cause huge outbreaks and travel long distances and causes paralysis in one out of every 200 children compared to type 3, which causes paralysis in one out of every 1,000 infections.
Type 1 accounted for 95 percent polio cases in the country till 2006. But now, children in India are being afflicted with both type 1 and type 3 polio strains.
“Introduction of bivalent vaccine is likely to improve the situation a great deal,” Azad said.
This year, so far 568 polio cases have been reported as compared to 559 in 2008. In 2007, 874 cases were reported.
What has concerned government is the growing number of type 3 cases in the country.
Western Uttar Pradesh, considered to be the hub of polio in the country, is witnessing a sharp rise in type 3 cases – 427 cases out of total 454 cases.
The same is being seen in Bihar where of the total 103 cases, 68 cases are type 3.
The use of BoPV was also recommended by the India Advisory Group in Polio Eradication earlier this year. The advisory group comprising international health experts had favoured it in combating both the strains.
The vaccine is considered to provide more immunity to children against both the strains. At the moment, India is using monovalent oral polio vaccine (mOPV) and the trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV).
Azad said: “Government is committed to wipe out polio from the country and in this national and international organizations, state governments and general public will have to work in a concerted manner.”
The health minister, who also inaugurated a free health camp organised by the Rotary Club, said they are launching a special drive in the face of “persistent prevalence of the disease”.
The special drive is being carried out in 10 states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand , Rajasthan and West Bengal.
While in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – the two states that reports most of the cases – and Delhi, a large area will be covered, but in other states only the migratory population will be targeted.
“In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we will cover children who live in construction sites, brick kilns, transit points like railway stations, bus stands and fairs,” said a health official.
“About 500,000 children will be vaccinated today on Children’s Day,” said Azad, adding that children who lives in the urban slums and street children are the main focus. Children’s Day commentates the birth anniversary of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
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