Vaccination drives at international borders being undertaken to sustain virus eradication, says govt
In December 2016, a traveller from Russia, Andrei Petrov, encountered great difficulty in crossing over borders from Pakistan to India in absence of him having been immunised for polio. The 41-year-old was held up in Lahore for two weeks before receiving health clearance from Indian authorities to cross over. Cross-border rules for polio vaccination have been strengthened by the Union Health Ministry even as India is polio-free. This is to keep a check on the ever-looming threat from neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the number of cases of polio are very high.
Due to conflict and war-ravagelike conditions in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, immunisation practices are poor, as public health workers are often under threat. In 2016, Pakistan reported 20 wild poliovirus cases, according to World Health Organisation data. In Afghanistan, 13 such cases were reported in 2016. WHO has also said that international travellers carry the risk of spreading the virus.
Health Minister JP Nadda said, “We are conducting continuous polio vaccination at India’s international borders. A travel advisory has also been issued to vaccinate all travellers who are travelling between India and eight other countries.”
“ About 60 per cent of polio cases was a result of the international spread of wild poliovirus, and there was increasing evidence to suggest that adult travellers contributed to this spread,” according to a statement released by the WHO.
Poliovirus spreads through the feco-oral route. It harbours itself in the stool of a carrier human and spreads through the medium of water contamination.
Regular checks of sewage samples are conducted by city or district authorities in India to detect poliovirus presence, and they then conduct booster vaccination drives for children to immunise them against the virus.
India was declared polio-free on March 27, 2014. Nadda said, “The risk of importation still persists from three countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria) where poliovirus continues to circulate. We need to maintain population immunity and continue sensitive surveillance until global polio eradication is achieved.”
More vaccines soon
Under-five mortality in India is still high at 45 child deaths per thousand live births due to pneumonia, diarrhoea, among other ailments. The Rotavirus vaccination was introduced in 2016 in a phased manner in four states in India to reduce the risk of diarrhoea. Next, the ministry plans to introduce Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in March 2017. Also, the Measles-Rubella vaccine campaign will be introduced in a phased manner.
National Immunisation Day
With January 29 being National Immunisation Day, around 17 crore children across India under the age of five will be given polio drops as part of the government’s drive to sustain polio eradication from the country.
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