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Bio-Med meningitis vaccines fail quality tests

Bio-Med Pvt. Ltd, the company placed under question in the recent polio vaccine scare, is under further scrutiny — this time for a mandatory meningitis vaccine. The company was barred from producing commercial products after batches of a polio vaccine sold by the company were found to contain live type-2 virus. A temporary licence was …

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Prosecution for contaminated polio vaccines

Eight months ago, an incident occurred that struck a severe blow to confidence in India’s vaccine industry. Thirty lakh batches of polio vaccine came under suspicion in October 2018, after samples showed that these batches contained type 2 live poliovirus, a strain that was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 2015.  The apparently-contaminated …

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HPV vaccination saves lives. As we have been reminded again.

New research confirms again what public health experts have long asserted: vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is an effective tool in reducing the spread of cervical cancer. For India, the news is important. Given the high death toll of cervical cancer in the country, and stalled efforts to roll out HPV vaccination, the finding …

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Will India soon see a malaria vaccine?

India has some success stories to share for World Malaria Day 2019, observed on April 25. The country is no longer among the three countries most affected by malaria – and could be set to reduce cases even further if it opts to adopt a new malaria vaccine that is currently being rolled out in …

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Measles makes a comeback: Fake news to blame?

Measles is a preventable disease – so why have cases almost quadrupled in a year? The first three months of 2019 witnessed dramatic increases in rates of the disease in every region of the world, compared to the same period last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 170 countries reported 112,163 cases of …

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Vaccine hesitancy could bring about a health crisis

Vaccine hesitancy is a concept as old as vaccines themselves. Are we seeing more of this issue, and is it opening doors for diseases close to elimination to resurge in India? Reports of outbreaks of the oldest vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, pertussis, diphtheria are becoming more frequent, despite these diseases being entirely vaccine-preventable. This …

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What the HPV vaccine could do for India – and why it hasn’t been done already

A disease which kills almost 300,000 women a year – including 67,500 women in India – could be all but eliminated by the end of the century if efforts are made to increase access to a lifesaving vaccine according to recent research published in The Lancet. The disease is cervical cancer. The vaccine is against …

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The polio contamination scare causes further disruption

India has recently faced an alarming — and high-profile — incident in which polio vaccines were contaminated with live type-2 strains of the virus. While the incident has largely been relegated to the media’s archives, this is not the only issue India faces with regards to polio. Stock shortages could see Indian children going without …

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Karnataka faces further outbreaks of “monkey fever”

Five deaths have occurred in the state of Karnataka after an outbreak of Kyasanur forest disease (KFD), also known as “monkey fever”. The outbreak in Karnataka follows a similar outbreak which occurred last year in Maharashtra. The outbreak has spurred accusations from health officials of lapses within the state’s health department. There is no currently …

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India lags behind in addressing mumps

In many countries a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is a standardised vaccine provided to all children. India has in recent years run extensive measles and rubella vaccination campaigns. However, it continues to neglect to add mumps to this list. Mumps can result in a number of severe and even fatal complications. It most …

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