Perchance, if we begin by sharing some basic information on polio or poliomyelitis or an acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord, the entire subject may get clearer. The disease has already been identified as an acute viral disease and it is also true, even though, the majority of polio infections bring about no symptoms by any means, affected individuals can show signs of an assortment of symptoms provided that the virus enters the blood stream.
It is also admitted that India has been one of the most-affected countries in this regard but it can have a sigh of relief from this time forth. Reason? India, after loads of endeavors, has been able to have a new weapon to fight off the perilous presence of poliomyelitis and also to do away with it.
What is the new weapon then? Well, it happens to be the first bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV) launched by the government and it is confident that the same will be able to thwart both strains of polio found in the country.
It is to be noted that at the moment the monovalent kind of vaccine is in use in India and even though it can act against one strain of the disease, it falls through with regard to both. The MOPV1 vaccine is used against the P1 strain of polio, while MOPV3 vaccine works against the P3 strain of the disease.
The BOPV was launched only on yesterday, being National Immunization Day (NID), under the auspices of the President, Smt Pratibha Patil and she was found to administer the vaccine to about ten infants at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Health officials, in the meantime said that in the region of 2.5 lakh children would be immunized making use of the new vaccine during the first phases of the campaign itself.
There is no doubt in it that India is conscious of the mounting cases of polio and to get rid of the same, it spends as much as Rs 1,200 crore and of it almost half is used to pay money for vaccines. Despite that, the dreaded disease has still not been successfully eradicated in the country.
Can BOPV help India attain the long-awaited success? We, albeit not skeptical, are waiting for the same.
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