Kathmandu, April 17

Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine, a new polio vaccine, has been rolled out to replace Trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine in Nepal starting today as part of a global campaign.

As many as 155 countries and territories in the world will stop using the TOPV, which protects against all three strains of wild polio virus, and replace it with bivalent OPV, which protects against the remaining two wild polio strains types 1 and 3, said Dr Rajendra Panta, director at Child Health Division under the Department of Health Services.

“No health institution across the country will use TOPV to vaccinate children against polio under any circumstance from today. TOPV contains vaccine for type 1, 2 and 3 of polio infection and BOPV will now have vaccine for type 1 and 3 infection as type 2 wild polio virus has already been eradicated from the world,” he informed.

The government will be withdrawing and disposing TOPV from all public and private facilities, and cold chain stores to ensure that the switch to BOPV has taken place as planned.

Removal of TOPVs would be done in a phase-wise manner, from both routine programs and campaigns, to minimise the risk of new polio cases.

The Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 calls for an important transition in the vaccines used to eradicate polio and requires the removal of all oral polio vaccines in the long run.

The switch has been recommended by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation and endorsed by the World Health Assembly as a critical component of the polio endgame strategy.

The government is supported by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and Rotary International. WHO and UNICEF consider that the world is closer than ever to ending polio worldwide within the next two years.

WHO had declared Nepal polio-free country in March 2014. A country can be declared polio-free if polio cases are not recorded for three consecutive years.

The last polio outbreak in Nepal was reported in Mahottari in February 2010, followed by a second outbreak in Rautahat; the most recent case was reported on August 30, 2010.

According to WHO, the world’s success in eradicating polio depends on Afghanistan and Pakistan where 12 cases were reported this year, means the virus could spread across borders again and all countries should continue the drive.