Oral polio vaccine samples found adulterated: Health Minister

New Delhi: Two samples of a batch of bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) were found to be adulterated and containing type 2 poliovirus by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey has told the Rajya Sabha. Some vials of the oral polio vaccines, manufactured by a Ghaziabad-based pharmaceuticals company, contaminated with the type-2 poliovirus were administered to children in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh, the ministry officials had confirmed.

Several samples of the vaccine manufactured by M/s BioMed Pvt Ltd were drawn by drugs inspectors of CDSCO and sent for the test at Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) in Kasauli.

Read Also: Polio remains international health emergency: WHO

"Two samples of a batch of Poliomyelitis Vaccine, Live, Oral Indian Pharmacopoeia Bivalent were declared as not of standard quality and deemed to be adulterated by the government analyst, CDL, as per the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 as the samples were found to contain Polio Virus Type 2," Choubey said Tuesday in a reply to the Parliament.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) then had issued a show-cause notice to the firm and ordered it to stop production of all human vaccines manufactured at the said facility.

Read Also:President Kovind launches Pulse Polio programme for 2018

Simultaneously, the drugs inspector of CDSCO had filed a police complaint.

In addition, the Ministry of Health has issued instructions to all states/UTs to stop the use of bOPV supplied by M/s BioMed Pvt Ltd.

"Further, in the identified districts of Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, where the suspected batch of OPV that was not of standard quality was used, special vaccination campaigns with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) have been carried out to boost immunity against type 2 poliovirus," he said.

Read Also: India stands COMMITTED to Ensure Safety of Vaccines