With India remaining polio-free for five years now, the government on Saturday said that it plans to switch to bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) from its present trivalent version in “some months” even as President Pranab Mukherjee launched the countrywide Pulse Polio programme for 2016 on the eve of National Immunisation Day.
Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who was present when Mr. Mukherjee launched the programme by administering polio drops to children at the Rahstrapati Bhavan, said that the switch will be done in a globally synchronised manner.
Trivalent OPV contains live and weakened versions for all the three types (1, 2 and 3) of wild polio while the bivalent vaccine will contain type 1 and 3.
India has already introduced injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into its routine immunisation programme along with oral polio vaccine (OPV) from November 2015.
In the first phase, IPV has been introduced in Assam, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, under the Pulse Polio programme for 2016, around 17.4 crore children under five years will be given polio drops.
“Polio-free status for five years is a treasure for all of us. India has been now validated for maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination in May 2015 well before the global target date of December 2015.
“This is a monumental achievement in the country’s efforts to achieve universal healthcare and address health inequities,” Mr. Nadda said.
