IPV launched in KP to eradicate polio

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) on Tuesday launched the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) with a slogan of eradicating polio from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The health department in collaboration with Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) had organised the launching ceremony of IPV introduction in routine immunisation at the KTH here.

Provincial Secretary Health Dr Jamal Yousaf chaired the ceremony.

KTH Medical Director Dr Nadeem Khawar, Hospital Director Dr Farman Ali, Dr Amin Jan, senior paediatrician and Pakistan Paediatric Association president, WHO team leader Ibrahim Salaha and UNICEF and Dr Mohammad Ayub Rose, deputy director Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) were present on the occasion.

The speakers said that the use of IPV would prevent the deadly disease through proper and timely vaccination of the children.

They stressed the need for strengthening the routine immunisation and boosting efforts for polio eradication through  IPV, which the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department introduced into routine immunisation schedule.

EPI Deputy Director Dr Ayub Rose said that IPV has been introduced into routine immunisation in 126 countries of the world. He said that IPV dose would be given as a single shot along with Pentavalent and Oral Polio Vaccine at the age of 14 weeks.

Dr Ayub said the introduction of IPV in the EPI was part of the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013- 2018, a comprehensive long-term strategy developed by Global Polio Eradication Initiative to address what was needed to deliver a polio-free world by 2018.

He said that IPV was considered very safe, whether given alone or in combination with other vaccines. According to him, it protected children against all three strains of poliovirus, and when used together with OPV can boost immunity. “When receiving IPV during routine immunisation, children would also benefit by being immunised with other potentially life-saving vaccines,” Dr Ayub said. He said scientific studies had shown that IPV significantly boosted the intestinal immunity of children providing them lifetime protection against polio.