IPV is more effective compared to oral vaccine because it is injected, according to Dr Khan. PHOTO: FILE
The government has approved the introduction of inactivated polio vaccines (IPVs) to be used in routine immunisation drives to strengthen children’s immunity.
Expanded Programme on Imunisation (EPI) National Manager Dr Ejaz Khan said IPV would be introduced in Pakistan in 2015 with the support of Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). “The government will communicate the decision to GAVI.”
IPV is more effective compared to oral vaccine because it is injected, according to Dr Khan. By 2019-2020, IPV will completely replace oral vaccines.
The proposal to introduce IPV was endorsed by all members of the National Inter-agency Coordination Committee on Thursday.
With oral polio drops given at birth, an injection of IPV will ensure Immunity against polio. This is a major step in compliance with international commitments towards eradicating polio from Pakistan by improving routine immunisation.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2014.
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@Karim Khan.
I have no interest what ever in any business that profits from the manufacture or sale or commerce of/in any vaccine. My observations stem from my contact with and observation of vaccination activities, and the folks in Pakistan assigned with the responsibility of administring and managing the APV drive.
Azzy
@Karim Khan. The use of IPV requires the application of syringes and sterile procedures. The storage of IPV is also more complex with possibility of serious errors etc.. A nation that can hardly manage OPV should think twice before switching to IPV. The liklihood of mutation in the attenuated vaccine is remote and unproven. I am not including the possibility of defective vaccine with live cells.
Strengthening of peoples immunity is beyond the reach of 3rd world nations.
Quote: "The sad fact is that even the educated people of Pakistan, including so-called doctors and professors, are terribly ignorant of the science of health. : Unquote.
An unneccesery personal attack. Are you an epidemologist?
Azzy
My first reaction is "Aha!" So today you claim that polio is endemic in Pakistan and OPV is the solution. And tomorrow you say IPV is to be used. Is there an end to this chain of contradictions by the vaccine industry?
@ Azzy, what exactly do you mean a potential hazarduous mode of administration? OPV remains banned in the west due to its risk of causing paralysis in children. IPV is considered safer (although not entirely safe; it has its own health risks) but OPV is a hundred times more dangerous as it carries a live virus that can mutate and cause individual cases of permanent paralysis as well as epidemic of paralysis (as happened in Nigeria). It's a good decision, although I do not consider vaccines as either effective or safe. A 2012 NIH paper (America's institute of health) showed that the entire anti-body focused appraoch to immunization is wrong; anti-bodies are the later lines of defence against pathogens; foremost, you need to strengthen yoru immunity by other means to produce strong mast cells that attack pathogens.
The sad fact is that even the educated people of Pakistan, including so-called doctors and professors, are terribly ignorant of the science of health.