March 31, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1428

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PESHAWAR, March 30: Health department officials said a laboratory report issued by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad on Dec 9, 2006, had raised more suspicions about the vaccine because of its lack of clarity.

The NIH report, which hints at the absence of facilities to detect the presence of oestrogen hormone in oral polio vaccine, hampered the government’s efforts to convince the people that the vaccine was safe.

Anti-polio vaccine samples were sent to the NIH on the orders of the Peshawar High Court in response to a petition that sought an end to the countrywide polio vaccination, claiming it affected the human reproductive system.

“The kit (that is) available is only (meant) for analysis of estrodial in human plasma and serum. There is no available method for detecting the said substance in polio vaccine,” said the report that was submitted in the court by the provincial health department. The NIH report did not specify whether it was talking about the method was unavailable in the NIH or in Islamabad market or the country or whether such a test did not exist.

However, it clarified that during the vaccine’s production, no such hormones are used. “Hence, it is presumed that this substance is not present in this product,” it said.

The petitioner, meanwhile, urged the government to defer the anti-polio vaccination campaign till the court’s final verdict.

According to him, ‘reputed laboratories’ had detected estradiol in the vaccine which affected human reproductive system. The World Health Organisation did not specify the vaccine’s ingredients on vials and avoided its sale in the market.

“Estradiol decreases formation of sperms in males and can lead to sterility and development of female organs in males,” he said, quoting a textbook of Medical Physiology.

Health officials, who are facing difficulties in countering anti-polio vaccine propaganda, said some people demanded construction of roads and provision of water and electricity in return for vaccinating their children against polio. Others, they said, refused the vaccinate their children on religious grounds, fearing it was a ‘tool’ used by the US and its allies to reduce the fertility of Muslims. Misconceptions, such as sleeping children or those considering the OPV as unIslamic are not being vaccinated.

Health officials said that of the total, 16 polio cases were reported from the NWFP and Fata, adding that half of the affected children’s families had refused to vaccinate their chidren.

They said that polio used to affect 350,000 children annually in 1988 in 125 world regions, mostly in Muslims countries. The number of polio-affected countries had now been brought down to only six, including Pakistan, due to persistent vaccination. During the past 18 years since the launching of the global anti-polio campaign, five million children have been saved from being paralyzed for life.

A WHO official said that Pakistan had recorded 25,000 cases of polio in 1994, 558 in 1999, 28 in 2005, and 39 in 2006 and five in 2007 till now.

“The drops were procured by UN agencies, particularly by the Unicef, and met the specifications set forth by the International Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation (ECBS),” he added.

“These specifications make it impossible for it to contain oestrogen, progesterone or any other undeclared biologically-active substances such as viruses, hormones or other such material,” he said, adding that the WHO was verifying whether manufacturers of ooestrogen and progesterone used in the global polio eradication campaign had met international ECBS specifications.

He said that during the last 18 years more than 10 billion doses of polio vaccines had been provided to more than a billion children globally, adding: “No side effects have been reported during this period.”

He rejected rumours by saying that its vaccine was totally safe and did not contain any sterility-inducing ingredient.