PUNE: India has made oral polio vaccine (OPV) mandatory for all travellers across all age groups visiting polio-endemic countries such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria and Pakistan. The new regulation, which came into effect from March 1, is aimed at preventing re-entry of polio virus from these countries.
To enforce the new vaccination regime, the state health department has set up designated vaccination centres for travellers at its 33 civil hospitals and 16 state-run medical colleges attached hospitals. Besides, 26 municipal corporations in Maharashtra have also been instructed to set up such vaccination centres for travellers.
To ensure easy facilitation of OPV in Pune city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started a designated OPV centre at its Narayan Peth vaccination centre. "Polio vaccine will be administered to all travellers from Maharashtra travelling to these polio-affected countries at these designated OPV centres. The new polio vaccination regime has come into effect from March 1," said state immunisation officer R M Kumbhar.
S T Pardeshi, medical officer of health (MoH), PMC said, "We have already made a vaccination centre operational at our Narayan Peth centre."
Milind Khedkar, PMC's designated medical officer of overseeing the work at Narayan Peth vaccination centre said that more than 50 travellers approached the centre for vaccination ever since it became operational from March 1. "Every day around 7 to 8 people travelling to the polio endemic countries approach the centre for OPV," Khedkar said.
The Union government has declared that any case of poliovirus would be treated as an emergency and high-quality surveillance has been in place to detect any untoward importation of the poliovirus into India.
The emergency preparedness and response capacity is being reviewed on a continuous basis and nearly 200 rapid response team members have been trained to roll out emergency response to polio. "The new polio vaccination regime has come since India is awaiting polio-free certification from the World Health Organization (WHO)," said another state health official.
For queries on OPV vaccination, PMC's designated medical officer Milind Khedkar can be contacted on 9689931102. People can also write in to pmc.immunisation@gmail.com
Why the new vaccination regime?
* India has not reported any case of polio for over 3 years
* However, the risk of polio persists as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria continue to be polio-endemic, re-infecting six countries in 2013 and causing major polio outbreaks in the Horn of Africa region and the Middle East
* In view of the persisting threat of polio virus importation, the independent monitoring board of the global polio eradication initiative, recommended in its October 2013 report that the International Health Regulations (IHR) should be used to ensure all people travelling from polio-endemic country have vaccination prior to travel, and this should be extended to any persistently affected country
* As per the WHO guidelines, until polio is eradicated globally, the risk of introduction of poliovirus in polio-free areas through travellers remains. Hence, all travellers, to and from poliovirus-infected areas, are advised to be adequately vaccinated.
* Earlier, in May 2013, the India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) on polio eradication recommended that the Union government should strongly promote the current WHO polio immunisation recommendations for travellers to and from endemic or infected areas
* India is taking several other measures to mitigate the risk of poliovirus importation. Continuous polio immunisation posts have been set up along the international borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.
* Initiated in 2011, the number of posts has gone up to 102 this year with nearly 4.2 million children immunized at these posts in the last two years
* All efforts are being made to maintain population immunity against polio through high quality polio immunization campaigns and increased routine immunization coverage
* Two national and six sub-national polio campaigns were held in 2013
* On January 13, India completed three years without a single case of polio. It was in 2011 that the last case of polio was reported in India, when a two year-old girl from Howrah district of West Bengal was paralysed because of the infection.
* However, the risk posed by travellers from polio infected areas continued to be a source of concern among the health officials.
(Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
To enforce the new vaccination regime, the state health department has set up designated vaccination centres for travellers at its 33 civil hospitals and 16 state-run medical colleges attached hospitals. Besides, 26 municipal corporations in Maharashtra have also been instructed to set up such vaccination centres for travellers.
To ensure easy facilitation of OPV in Pune city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started a designated OPV centre at its Narayan Peth vaccination centre. "Polio vaccine will be administered to all travellers from Maharashtra travelling to these polio-affected countries at these designated OPV centres. The new polio vaccination regime has come into effect from March 1," said state immunisation officer R M Kumbhar.
S T Pardeshi, medical officer of health (MoH), PMC said, "We have already made a vaccination centre operational at our Narayan Peth centre."
Milind Khedkar, PMC's designated medical officer of overseeing the work at Narayan Peth vaccination centre said that more than 50 travellers approached the centre for vaccination ever since it became operational from March 1. "Every day around 7 to 8 people travelling to the polio endemic countries approach the centre for OPV," Khedkar said.
The Union government has declared that any case of poliovirus would be treated as an emergency and high-quality surveillance has been in place to detect any untoward importation of the poliovirus into India.
The emergency preparedness and response capacity is being reviewed on a continuous basis and nearly 200 rapid response team members have been trained to roll out emergency response to polio. "The new polio vaccination regime has come since India is awaiting polio-free certification from the World Health Organization (WHO)," said another state health official.
For queries on OPV vaccination, PMC's designated medical officer Milind Khedkar can be contacted on 9689931102. People can also write in to pmc.immunisation@gmail.com
Why the new vaccination regime?
* India has not reported any case of polio for over 3 years
* However, the risk of polio persists as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria continue to be polio-endemic, re-infecting six countries in 2013 and causing major polio outbreaks in the Horn of Africa region and the Middle East
* In view of the persisting threat of polio virus importation, the independent monitoring board of the global polio eradication initiative, recommended in its October 2013 report that the International Health Regulations (IHR) should be used to ensure all people travelling from polio-endemic country have vaccination prior to travel, and this should be extended to any persistently affected country
* As per the WHO guidelines, until polio is eradicated globally, the risk of introduction of poliovirus in polio-free areas through travellers remains. Hence, all travellers, to and from poliovirus-infected areas, are advised to be adequately vaccinated.
* Earlier, in May 2013, the India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) on polio eradication recommended that the Union government should strongly promote the current WHO polio immunisation recommendations for travellers to and from endemic or infected areas
* India is taking several other measures to mitigate the risk of poliovirus importation. Continuous polio immunisation posts have been set up along the international borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.
* Initiated in 2011, the number of posts has gone up to 102 this year with nearly 4.2 million children immunized at these posts in the last two years
* All efforts are being made to maintain population immunity against polio through high quality polio immunization campaigns and increased routine immunization coverage
* Two national and six sub-national polio campaigns were held in 2013
* On January 13, India completed three years without a single case of polio. It was in 2011 that the last case of polio was reported in India, when a two year-old girl from Howrah district of West Bengal was paralysed because of the infection.
* However, the risk posed by travellers from polio infected areas continued to be a source of concern among the health officials.
(Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
