Vaccine programme in A.P. only after Centre's clearance

April 08, 2010 11:50 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 08:49 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Following the controversy over the administration of the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine to tribal girls in Khammam district, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided not to allow further mass vaccination until it receives a go-ahead from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and other competent agencies.

Disclosing this to TheHindu here on Thursday, Anil Puneetha, commissioner, Health and Family Welfare, said that under a feasibility project taken up by the U.S.-based NGO PATH-International, in coordination with the State government, as many as 14,000 girls between 10 and 14 years were given the first of three doses of the vaccine in three blocks of Khammam in July-August last year.

However, 300 of them dropped out “for various reasons” by the time the third dose was administered in January this year.

Mr. Puneetha said the project was launched and completed only after receiving technical clearance from the Drugs Controller-General of India and the ICMR.

“We started the project after following all the norms,” he added. Replying to a question, he said the NGO might have planned to undertake more vaccination in the State.

Fresh opinion

Mr. Puneetha said the project advisory committee, comprising the deputy director-general of the ICMR, technical experts and senior government officials, met here on April 6 and decided to refer the matter to the ICMR to seek a fresh technical opinion.

The government would think of allowing the administration of the HPV vaccine in future only when a fresh clearance was given by the Centre, he added.

Mr. Puneetha pointed out that the vaccine was available in the market and it was for the Centre to take a call on it.

Denying the reported deaths of tribal girls due to the vaccine, he said the government had already clarified the matter. “We have received reports from the district, that they [the deaths] are not linked to the vaccine,” Mr. Puneetha said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.