Kids below 2 years in Telangana to be vaccinated

Hyderabad: Children below two years of age in the state will be vaccinated in accordance with directions given by Union ministry of health and family welfare to avoid cases of polio that could be caused by the presence of Type 2 strain in the vaccine.

It is suspected two batches of the vaccines that were supplied to the state were contaminated with Type 2 strain. It is in this backdrop that the government is taking up preventive measure of polio immunisation.

Director, health and family welfare, Dr G. Srinivas Rao said children below two years of age would be given the inactivated polio vaccine under Mission Indradhanush. “We also tap children who had been missed out,” he said.

“The step is being taken as there is a suspicion that vaccine batches containing Type 2 strain were supplied to the state, and the virus could be in the environment,” he said.

The Type 2 strain provides protection but it recirculates in the body and passes out in the stool. This causes the danger of contaminating the sewage system as it can mutate and become wild again. For this reason the Type 2 strain has been discontinued. The Drugs Control Administration has ordered the freezing of vaccine stocks of the two batches, and samples are being sent to the testing centre at Kasuli in Himachal Pradesh.

A senior district and medical health official explained, “The presence of Type 2 strain requires the Centre to strengthen its checking process. The Drugs Control Administration and Central Drug Control Authority have to check on the manufacturers regularly and carry out random sampling.”

With 80 per cent of the people opting for the government immunisation programme with regard to polio, the outreach programs are providing the required support to ensure that no one is missed.