Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Politics of polio

It was with shock and amazement that I read the article “The politics of polio” (June 11). After seeing the large-scale implementation of the Oral Polio Vaccine programme year after year, I have been under the impression that it is working well. It is quite shocking to realise that the ineffectiveness of the oral vaccine was well known more than a decade ago to all those involved in the programme. It is deplorable that they sidestepped the issue for want of profit or due to negligence.

Ashwin Nanjappa,

Singapore

The article has exposed how even an institution like WHO can allow itself to be driven by powerful nations. What sense does it make to use big names for awareness programmes if the vaccine being used to eliminate polio does not have the intended effect? Officials should switch over to IPV immediately and stop playing with the health of innocent people.

Jyotika Singhal,

New Delhi

The facts disclosed in the article are quite alarming and disturbing. The so-called nexus among WHO, the western governments and officials of our government who seemed to be planning beyond retirement is nothing but high-profile corruption.

Jai Shankar Akkinapragada,

Singapore

Several developing countries have eliminated polio using OPV. The U.S. switched over to IPV only recently when the number of vaccine-induced cases, while minuscule, exceeded cases of natural infection (which was near zero).

If, as the author states, OPV is so ineffective, how and why did a majority in India eliminate polio without a single shot of IPV? Any scientific explanation for the OPV-is-a- failure statement needs to explain why a large section of India, particularly in the south, is relatively free of the disease. While IPV might be theoretically as good as, or even better than, OPV, one has to contend with harsh ground realities.

While OPV can be administered by a trained volunteer, IPV requires a trained medical person with possibly stand-by arrangements to respond to an emergency. With poor health infrastructure in most of north India, implementation of an IPV plan would be a logistical nightmare.

India is currently having the lowest incidence of Polio Virus Type 1, the most dreaded variety-5 cases. Type 3 is what is adding to the numbers and this was expected as the emphasis has been on Type 1 in the past two years.

Dr. Santhosh Rajagopal,

Madurai

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