The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked the Central Drug Laboratory (CDL) at Kasauli to test all the batches of polio vaccines for type 2 strain, to rule out any possibility of contamination. A three-member team constituted by the DCGI has started with the investigation. A letter sent by the drug regulator, Dr. S. Eswara to CDL has stressed on, that batches of polio vaccine from all the companies are to be tested to rule out contamination.
It has also been asked that along with P1 and P3 strain, all the batches of bivalent vaccine should be tested for identification of type 2 also. India has switched to bivalent vaccine (bOPV) from trivalent vaccine (tOPV) following the certification of global eradication of type 2 wild polio virus. In order to minimize the risk of vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 outbreak, Type 2 component was removed from polio vaccines. Traces of a…
