World Health Organisation (WHO) today said all nations in the South-East Asian region have switched over to bivalent oral polio vaccine, a "monumental" move which will help in eradicating all types of polio.
"Implementing a monumental change in vaccination that is expected to bring the world closer to eradicating all types of polio, all 11 countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region have switched from using the traditionally used trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) that protects against the remaining wild poliovirus strains," Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, said.
She said the vaccine switch, removing Type 2 component of the oral polio vaccine, follows global certification of eradication of Type 2 wild poliovirus last year. The switch also aims at drastically reducing the rare risk of children getting paralysis by oral polio vaccine, she said.
"The world is closer than ever before to ending polio. The switch is a critical step in the Polio Endgame Strategy towards achieving a world free of all types of polioviruses.
"The polio vaccine switch, which is complemented with introduction of injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), will boost the region's efforts to protect children against polio until the crippling disease is eradicated globally," she said.
The region was certified polio-free in March 2014 and continues to maintain the status, despite the risk of importation from the polio-endemic countries.
Health Minister J P Nadda had recently said in the last three years, the only disease to be eradicated from India was polio in 2014.
"Efforts are on to protect children with polio vaccine, increase routine immunization coverage, focus on the most vulnerable and hard to reach population and step-up vigil against poliovirus importation.
"I would like to congratulate all countries in the region for successfully implementing the polio vaccine switch, which is the biggest globally coordinated project of its kind in the history of vaccines involving over 150 countries," Singh said.
She said countries in the region made extensive preparations, meticulously planned and implemented the switch in the childhood immunization programme which reaches out to an estimated 37 million children in the region annually.
"The South-East Asia Region was certified polio-free on
27 March 2014 and there is no threat to the Region's polio- free status from the VDPV isolates in the sewage samples," the WHO said.
WHO's South-East Asia Region comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
To further mitigate the small risk of VDPVs, globally nearly 155 countries have switched from using the trivalent oral polio vaccine to the bivalent oral polio vaccine, it said.
"The switch in April 2016, under the Polio End Game Plan is a critical step to prevent VDPVs and stop all polio, whether due to wild or vaccine-derived viruses, it said.
It added that the Union Health Ministry which is supported partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), continues to conduct strong surveillance for any poliovirus from any source and also continues to strengthen overall population immunity to ensure children continue to be fully protected from lifelong polio paralysis.
