Polio vaccination: Lab test rules out use of fertility-harming material

Major concern among parents removed

ISLAMABAD: Polio vaccines do not carry any material that could harm fertility in human beings and is safe and effective to be used, according to a report.

The National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) sent the samples of the vaccine to National Control Laboratory for Biologicals - an independent laboratory - to test whether it contained human hormones causing infertility among the children at a later age, according to an official in the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The official said that since 2004 it had been projected by a certain section of the society that some human hormones were deliberately added to the Oral Polio Vacciness. “This turned out to be one of the major reasons for refusal by parents in Fata, some parts of K-P and Sindh, ” he said. To clear this misconception, he continued, the national EPI tested the OPV to clear all the misperceptions.

According to the report available with The Express Tribune, from the scientific perspective, hormones estrogen and progesterone given orally require a very high dose above 0.5 milligram for over 5 to 10 days for having an effect. The OPV dose comprises two drops and none of the six hormones in this quantity could be detected at a concentration as low as 0.0005 mg. The samples were tested following international standards and methods.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.