News

Volume 5 Issue 3 - February 01, 2007

Injectable polio vaccine for places where people say no to polio drops

D.N.I.S. News Network – In order to bring under control the increasing number of polio cases in the high-risk areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has asked international agencies to procure injectable polio vaccine for pilot testing in these areas.

Earlier, the India Advisory Group on Polio had recommended injections specifically for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, since a large number of people from these areas were apprehensive about administering oral polio vaccine to their children during the last polio campaign. Taking up their advice, the Health Ministry has now asked U.N.I.C.E.F. and W.H.O. to procure injectable vaccine for the two states.

A senior official of the ministry revealed that U.N.I.C.E.F. and W.H.O. were working on the modalities for getting the injectable vaccine and that officials were identifying the operational problems that could arise, since the concept would be totally new.