Skip to main content

150,000 Indian Children May Have Received Contaminated Polio Vaccines


150,000 Indian Children May Have Received Contaminated Polio Vaccines

Inactivated polio vaccine is now a requirement when visiting various countries

indian children eating
October 1st, 2018 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that there was ‘minimal risk of children contracting the polio virus in India’ from a tainted batch of vaccines, reported Reuters.   
The Indian Health Ministry has issued advisories to the three states to ensure that polio surveillance teams trace the children who have been given the contaminated vaccines. 
Some vials of the oral polio vaccines contaminated with the type-2 poliovirus were administered to children in Maharashtra and Telangana, besides Uttar Pradesh, Health Ministry officials confirmed.
Recommended:
DiscountsAppointmentsClinical TrialsLab Tests
New Delhi health officials said they were investigating why and how northern India-based Bio-Med Pvt Ltd, was still producing such vaccines, and that the affected lots were being recalled. 
Local media in India reported that police arrested the managing director of Bio-Med after routine testing revealed it had made and shipped some 150,000 lots of oral polio vaccines, that contained the type 2 polio vaccine virus. 
This strain of the polio virus that had been eradicated around the world and the Indian government had ordered this type of vaccine to be discontinued in 2016. 
Previously, batches of typhoid vaccines produced by Bio-Med were also found to be “not-of-standard quality”, according to a public notice by the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation, dated March 14, 2018. 
Shamila Sharma, a spokeswoman for the WHO, said ‘any risk to children was minimal due to the high routine polio immunization coverage in India.’ 
The Health Ministry, under its national immunization program, will also ensure that inactivated poliovirus (IPV) injections are being administered to every child in the three states so that no child is missed, the official said. 
IPV is produced from wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype that have been inactivated (killed) with formalin. 
In recent years, U.S. and European regulators have slammed many Indian drug factories for faulty manufacturing practices, often issuing warnings or bans, said Reuters.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), polio has been eliminated from the USA since 1979. 
Since 2000, the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine (4 doses) given to people in the USA, says the CDC. 
The IPV vaccination is now a requirement when visiting various countries around the world. 
Polio vaccination appointments can be easily scheduled at Vax-Before-Travel. 
And vaccine discounts can be found here.     
Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of vaccines to the FDA or CDC.



References: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pollution putting million of infants at risk of brain damage, UNICEF says

(CNN) Almost 17 million infants worldwide are breathing toxic air, potentially affecting their brain development, according to a UNICEF  report  published Wednesday. More than two-thirds of the affected infants -- over 12 million -- live in South Asia and are exposed to pollution six times higher than recommended limits. Particulates in pollution can damage brain tissue and impair cognitive development, the report states, with potential lifelong consequences. Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to child health globally. Pneumonia claims  920,000 children  under the age of 5 every year, and the risk is greatest for those under the age of 1. Damaging infant brains The brain undergoes critical growth in the first 1,000 days of life,   forming foundational neural connections in this stage. Exposure to air pollution during this time can therefore impact development, the report states. Breathing in Delhi air equivalent to smok...
Post a Comment
Read more

Climate change is already here, and heat waves are having the biggest effect, report says By Nina Avramova, CNN Updated 6:31 PM ET, Wed November 28, 2018

(CNN) Climate change is here and affecting our health, with extreme heat in particular also having effects on productivity, food supply and disease transmission, a new global report finds. More people than ever are vulnerable to heat exposure globally, and numbers are rising, according to The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change  report  by an international group of researchers, published Wednesday. It comes just days after climate reports from the US government and the United Nations said that greater action on climate change is needed, with the UN report showing that in  2017 , the highest levels of carbon were emitted globally. Older people in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean are most vulnerable because of larger aging and urban populations there. The latest report estimates that 42% of over-65s in Europe and 43% in the the Eastern Mediterranean are already vulnerable to heat exposure; 38% of this group is vulnerable in Africa and 34% ...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Many more weeks' to come in fierce, deadly flu season, CDC says

Story highlights CDC: seven more children dead from flu bringing total this season to 37 Hospitalizations continuing to increase nationwide (CNN) This year's seemingly   unyielding flu season continues to ravage the entire continental United States, as health authorities track additional deaths and hospitalizations -- and there's more of the season left. Influenza activity continues to be widespread in all states except Hawaii, according to the  weekly flu report released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All while, based on the latest data, the flu season has not even peaked yet, said Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the CDC. Four ways the flu turns deadly   01:39 "Hopefully we're in the peak currently, since the data is a week behind, or that it peaks soon. Regardless, there is a lot of flu activity happening across the country and likely many more ...
Post a Comment
Read more