Polio Scare! Docterz explains things a parent should know.

Recently, India was in the news when a particular vaccine manufacturer gave a “contaminated” type of polio vaccine in the market, Polio vaccine-2. 

Facts about polio and the polio vaccine:

1. India is a certified Polio-free country since 2014.

2. Oral Polio vaccine has three subtypes -.1, 2 and 3.

3. All oral Polio vaccines have a small, minuscule risk of vaccine-derived polio (1 in 7,50,000 doses).

4. Out of the three subtypes, Polio vaccine-2 has a relatively slight higher risk of vaccine-derived polio.

5. Due to its risk of vaccine-associated polio, as the first step to stop oral polio vaccine, polio vaccine-2 was the first to be discontinued out of the three types in 2016.

6. The polio virus was given to children recently were vaccine virus and not the actual virus.

7. Children who have received injectable polio vaccine have no risk of vaccine-derived polio.

In a nutshell:

For the vaccine virus to cause polio in your child,

Either your child has to be one out of the unlucky two children to get vaccine-derived polio assuming 15 lac doses have entered inside the market and risk is 1 in 7,50,000(many batches were withdrawn and India has developed a strong herd immunity).

OR 

the virus has to mutate inside your child’s body which usually happens after multiple exposures to the vaccine virus.

What should parents do?

1. If all 3 doses of polio have gone before 2016, parents need not worry.

2. If oral polio doses given along with injectable polio after 2016, parents need not worry.

3. If only oral polio is given after 2016 or no polio vaccine is given, please give oral polio vaccine in coming special mop-up vaccine drive round given by GOI.

With Docterz at your side, parents can be confident of receiving the correct information to spare them from the rumours and the stress that comes along.

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