Polio cases: ‘Doubts over vaccine efficacy unfounded’
WHO expert expresses concern over rise of cases since 2007.
LAHORE:
“The reservations over the efficacy of polio vaccines being used in Pakistan are unfounded. These vaccines are administered to children after rigorous inspection by a World Health Organisation regulatory authority and the National Institute of Health,” WHO Punjab team leader Dr Deborah Bettels told The Express Tribune on Tuesday at a media orientation on polio virus. She was responding to the provincial health secretary’s statement on Monday that recent polio cases in the province may have been caused by vaccine inefficiency.
“The vaccine is guaranteed to be safe and effective,” she said. She said doubting the efficacy of the vaccine could have grave repercussions. She said three doses of the vaccine were inadequate to eliminate the risk of polio in a child.
Dr Bettels said the same vaccine had brought down the number of polio cases in other countries in the region including India and Afghanistan.
She said the number of polio cases had fallen from over 100 in mid 1990s when the WHO started its anti-polio campaign in Pakistan to just over 30 in 2007. She expressed concerns about the rise in the incidence of the disease form 2007 onwards. With 192 cases reported in 2011, last year witnessed the highest number of cases in the last decade.
The WHO expert said polio virus was transmitted through human waste. “Polio virus in the affected person is found in their throat and intestinal tracts. It is transmitted in people through physical contact with sewage that may contain traces of human waste,” she said.
Earlier speaking at the orientation session, Dr Bettels said the polio virus native to Pakistan had been found by the WHO in other countries of the region as well. She said the same virus was believed to be responsible for the recent outbreak of the disease in China.
This situation, she said, could endanger Pakistan’s image in other countries. She said other countries could impose travel restrictions on Pakistani citizens if immediate measures were not taken to control the disease in the country. Dr Bettels said of the four countries (India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) where polio was still reported regularly, only India had made progress in controlling the disease. She said only one polio case was reported in India in 2011.
The finding shared at the orientation listed the deteriorating law and order in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a key challenge in controlling the incidence of polio in the region. These areas, it said, provided an unchecked corridor for the transmission of the disease from and to Pakistan.
Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) additional director Dr Azhar Mahmood Bhatti corroborated the WHO expert’s claim about the effectiveness of the polio vaccines. He suggested that laws should be enacted making immunisation of children mandatory.
He said birth certificates should be issued to children on verification of their polio vaccination cards. He said about five percent children in the province were left out of the recent immunisation campaign. The recent cases reported in the province were caused by virus that had transmitted from other provinces.
UNICEF communication specialist Rustam Haydarov said effective public awareness campaigns were critical. He urged the media to play a role in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2012.
“The reservations over the efficacy of polio vaccines being used in Pakistan are unfounded. These vaccines are administered to children after rigorous inspection by a World Health Organisation regulatory authority and the National Institute of Health,” WHO Punjab team leader Dr Deborah Bettels told The Express Tribune on Tuesday at a media orientation on polio virus. She was responding to the provincial health secretary’s statement on Monday that recent polio cases in the province may have been caused by vaccine inefficiency.
“The vaccine is guaranteed to be safe and effective,” she said. She said doubting the efficacy of the vaccine could have grave repercussions. She said three doses of the vaccine were inadequate to eliminate the risk of polio in a child.
Dr Bettels said the same vaccine had brought down the number of polio cases in other countries in the region including India and Afghanistan.
She said the number of polio cases had fallen from over 100 in mid 1990s when the WHO started its anti-polio campaign in Pakistan to just over 30 in 2007. She expressed concerns about the rise in the incidence of the disease form 2007 onwards. With 192 cases reported in 2011, last year witnessed the highest number of cases in the last decade.
The WHO expert said polio virus was transmitted through human waste. “Polio virus in the affected person is found in their throat and intestinal tracts. It is transmitted in people through physical contact with sewage that may contain traces of human waste,” she said.
Earlier speaking at the orientation session, Dr Bettels said the polio virus native to Pakistan had been found by the WHO in other countries of the region as well. She said the same virus was believed to be responsible for the recent outbreak of the disease in China.
This situation, she said, could endanger Pakistan’s image in other countries. She said other countries could impose travel restrictions on Pakistani citizens if immediate measures were not taken to control the disease in the country. Dr Bettels said of the four countries (India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) where polio was still reported regularly, only India had made progress in controlling the disease. She said only one polio case was reported in India in 2011.
The finding shared at the orientation listed the deteriorating law and order in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a key challenge in controlling the incidence of polio in the region. These areas, it said, provided an unchecked corridor for the transmission of the disease from and to Pakistan.
Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) additional director Dr Azhar Mahmood Bhatti corroborated the WHO expert’s claim about the effectiveness of the polio vaccines. He suggested that laws should be enacted making immunisation of children mandatory.
He said birth certificates should be issued to children on verification of their polio vaccination cards. He said about five percent children in the province were left out of the recent immunisation campaign. The recent cases reported in the province were caused by virus that had transmitted from other provinces.
UNICEF communication specialist Rustam Haydarov said effective public awareness campaigns were critical. He urged the media to play a role in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2012.