KOCHI: Recently, when it was transpired that the bivalent polio vaccine distributed as part of the pulse polio campaign across the country got contaminated, the Indian healthcare sector was alarmed as it threatened to wipe out the gains from a relentless campaign that made the country 100% polio-free, nearly seven years ago.

Though the government did admit that the Type 2 polio vaccine virus traces found in vaccine vials, it was unlikely to cause infection. There was no sample that was tested positive for wild poliovirus in sewage or Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases either. However, it did dent the much-celebrated pulse polio immunisation campaign to an extent.

If you thought polio is something to be taken lightly, you are gravely mistaken. Polio, also known as poliomyelitis is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system and children younger than 5 years old are more likely to contract the virus.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in every 200 polio infections will result in permanent paralysis. 

But due to a relentless global initiative since 1988, polio eradication was achievable across large parts of the world.

However, there are a lot of myths and false interpretations about the vaccine resulted in a large number of people refusing to give it to their children.

Polio vaccine should reach every last child to ensure a polio-free world for future generations. As it mainly spread through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, through contaminated food or water and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

Thus, polio vaccines help children to build immunity against the virus and thus prevent from being paralyzed or being diagnosed with any of its symptoms. From newborns to children up to 5 years of age need to be protected from this disease and so repeated vaccination would help them increase their immunity to resist the disease.  

The vaccine-derived poliovirus means the source of the virus is the vaccine itself. The oral polio vaccine usually called polio drops, which India deployed extensively to fight against polio contained a live attenuated or weakened polio virus. When a child is vaccinated, the weakened vaccine-virus replicates in the intestine and enters into the bloodstream, triggering a protective immune response in the child.

Like wild poliovirus, the child excretes the vaccine-virus for a period of six to eight weeks. Importantly, as it is excreted, some of the vaccine-virus may no longer be the same as the original vaccine-virus as it gets genetically altered during replication. In areas of inadequate sanitation, this excreted vaccine-virus can quickly spread in the community and infect children with low immunity.

Vaccines are one of the safest tools of modern medicine. Safety standards for vaccines are extremely strict. Research has also proven that serious risks associated with vaccines are much rare than those related to diseases against which they protect. However, vaccines are easy targets for people who seek to explain the emergence of a disease or health problem

Off late, there have been a lot of rumours about the polio vaccine that instilled fear among people that stopped them from giving their kids any types of vaccinations. Polio vaccine is being widely used by countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. 

Polio vaccine, as being rumoured around, has got nothing to do with infertility or other health issues. It only boosts one’s immunity to prevent causing a set of diseases. Most of the countries have made it mandatory to take polio vaccine irrespective of their age of previous vaccine status before the passenger enters their country 

India has eradicated poliovirus many years ago. But for our country to continue to be polio-free, demystifying polio vaccination and educating people is important for the safety and healthy living of our future generations. 

Dr George Kurien is the Managing Director of Muthoot Healthcare (The views expressed by the author are his own)