‘No evidence of oral polio vaccine protecting infection from Covid-19’

LAHORE:The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has confirmed that there is no evidence that oral polio vaccine protects people from infection from Covid 19.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the GPEI said that a clinical trial addressing this question is planned in the US and World Health Organization (WHO) will evaluate the evidence when it is available. The GPEI statement reads that, in the absence of any evidence, WHO does not recommend oral polio vaccination (OPV) for the prevention of Covid-19.

WHO continues to recommend OPV as part of essential immunisation services to prevent poliomyelitis and as part of global polio eradication efforts. There are experimental signals from various studies over the years that OPV has non-specific effects on the immune system. These effects have not been well characterised and their clinical relevance is unknown. Such non-specific effects may not be limited to OPV, as other live vaccines have also been associated with non-specific protective effects (such as BCG vaccine against tuberculosis). Non-live vaccines in contrast do not seem to have the same effects.

The exact mechanism of non-specific protection induced by live vaccines needs to be elucidated further. Clinical studies could begin immediately because the vaccines in question are licensed and have an excellent safety record. Clinical trials involving off-label use of various drugs licensed for other indications are currently underway. The existing scientific rationale suggests that the same should be done for OPV and other live vaccines.

A low-risk, low-cost study is currently being discussed with various partners and vaccine manufacturers, including the US FDA, the outcomes of which will be carefully assessed to determine potential use in the context of the spread of SARSCoV2 until the time when specific vaccines and antiviral therapies are ready.

joint project: The University of Health Sciences Board of Governors on Wednesday allowed the varsity administration to enter into an agreement with UK’s Oxford University to carry out joint project that will examine how the existing treatments could be repurposed to treat coronavirus patients besides building capacity of Pakistani scientists to develop process to produce vaccine at a million-dose scale.

The board also approved a centre for health, happiness and wellbeing to be established on the campus which would cater to the physical and psychological needs of healthcare workers who, at times, felt burned-out due to intense nature of their work.

The 44th meeting of UHS BoG was chaired by Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jilani. Other members who were present included Gohar Ejaz, UHS VC Prof Javed Akram and Punjab Finance Department’s representative whereas Prof Anwar A Khan and Prof Salima Hashmi participated in the meeting through video link. UHS Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer and Treasurer Baquee Bin Hanif were also present besides other officials.

Briefing the board members about the steps taken by the varsity, Prof Javed Akram said that his first priority was to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to the doctors and other healthcare workers on the frontline of war against the deadly pandemic.

“Now we have the capacity to get more than 9,000 PPE prepared everyday which we are providing to healthcare workers in government hospitals of Punjab, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan”, he said, adding that private sector had provided donations for the purpose.

Prof Javed Akram said that the telemedicine centres were providing 24/7 online consultation services to public and had received more than 98,000 calls so far. He added that now psychological assistance was also available at the telemedicine centres as psychiatrists and clinical psychologists had been engaged to deal with stress issue arising due to prolonged lockdowns.

The board members appreciated the prompt response and dynamic approach of the university in time of hardship and difficulty and assured their full support to the university in this regard.

The board also approved in principle the start of master degree programme in health informatics with telemedicine and health information and management system (HIMS) as its major components.