ISLAMABAD: On the recommendations of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), the government has finalised arrangements to administer a supplementary dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) to three million children across the country.

The IPV will be administered to the children at the end of November as a supplementary dose while the routine Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) will be given to them as per schedule.

It may be mentioned that at the moment there are two types of vaccinesbeing used for the eradication of the polio virus in the world. The first is the OPV, a liquid in which weak polio virus is included to increase the immunity of a child. A child having OPV does not transfer the virus to others.

The IPV is not a `live` vaccine and increases the immunity of a person but its carrier can transfer the virus to others.

Polio virus has not only become a threat for the children of Pakistan but the rising number of new cases has also become a matter of embarrassment for the country. On May 5, 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it mandatory for every Pakistani travelling abroad to have at least one dose of the polio vaccine.

An official of Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) requesting not to be identified told Dawn that though Pakistan had been arranging anti-polio campaigns for the last many years, a number of children were missed out due to the refusal by their parents.

`Moreover, some children could not be vaccinated in the Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (Fata) as the outlawed Taliban banned the campaigns since June 2012. Besides, due to the military operation in Waziristan, a large number of people from that area shifted to other parts of the country. It is feared that the polio virus may have travelled with the displaced people,` he said.

The IMB, which works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues reports on the performances of different countries after every six months, in its earlier report recommended that IPV should also be used to ensure immunity among the children.

The official said once there were three types of polio viruses in the world P-I, P-II and P-III.

`P-II and P-III viruses have been eliminated from the world and now only P-I virus exists. However, in the OPV, the weak polio viruses of all the three types are included to increase the immunity of the child. But in case of a weak immunity level, the child can have the disease,` he said.

When a large population/communityremains unvaccinated for a long period of time and vaccination is done around the community, there is a possibility that the children not receiving the vaccine can be affected by the polio virus because the virus remains in sewage and can get activated. That type is called Sabin Like Virus, he said.

`If children would be given IPV, they will never be infected with the polio virus if the virus remains in their bodles. So it is recommended that if the government gets access to children in the areas in which 100 per cent vaccination is not possible or there are chances of polio outbreal(s, IPV should be given to protect the children forever,` he said.

In simple words, because of IPV, the number of polio cases will reduce.

However, the virus may remain in the environment, he said.

The technical head of the PM`s polio cell, Dr Altaf Bosan, told Dawn that a decision had been taken to use IPV as a supplement vaccine because it protected a child even if he had the low immunity level.`OPV protects the whole community but IPV is in the benefit of an individual, so it has been decided that one-time IPV should be given to the children especially in Peshawar, Fata, Karachi and Quetta. The OPV will also be given to children simultaneously and when polio virus is completely eradicated in the country, we will shift to only IPV, he said.

He said the three million children would be vaccinated with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Most of the vaccine has been received and the remaining will be acquired soon. It has been decided to start the IPV campaign by the end of November.

`In the second phase,` he added, `we are considering vaccinating every child below the age of one year with IPV to eradicate the disease.

In reply to a question, Dr Bosan said though the IMB had recommended introducing IPV, the government was also serious in eradicating the polio virus from the country and was taking every possible step.