WHO gives 2 weeks to replace problem polio vaccine

The World Health Organization has given countries two weeks to replace a problem polio vaccine blamed for some outbreaks of the crippling disease. WHO is hoping to wipe out this virus once and for all.

Why?

The live polio virus used in some vaccines is one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating the disease. The wild version of the virus now exists only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but a type of vaccine that contains small amounts of weakened but live polio still causes occasional outbreaks elsewhere.

What’s the concern now?

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) replicates in the gut and can be passed to others through faecal-contaminated water — meaning it won’t hurt the child who has been vaccinated, but could infect their neighbours.

What needs to be done?

Long-term, WHO recommends that the OPV should be phased out worldwide and replaced by the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).

Background:

A massive global effort has in recent decades come close to wiping out polio, a crippling and potentially fatal viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five. Cases have decreased by 99% since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide.

Difference between IPV and OPV:

There are two types of vaccine that protect against polio: inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). IPV contains live killed virus and OPV contains live weakened virus.

Its usage in India:

The union government launched India’s first injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) as part of the country’s commitment to global polio eradication in December 2015.

Polio:

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.