India’s
vaccine shame
Every second child born
anywhere in the world gets the first shot of essential vaccine made in
India. But every fifth child born within India last year did not get
any vaccine at all. This is the story of contrasts regarding vaccines,
the most cost effective preventive measure developed by humans to ward
off deadly diseases in the last 100 years.
On July 8, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad rattled off vaccination
figures under the universal National Immunization Program which
mandates providing every one of the nearly 21 million children born in
the country every year with some life-saver vaccines.
According to government figures, only 81 per cent or just 15.7 million
children born in 2008-09 got their measles vaccine, 83 percent got
polio and the crucial DPT vaccine was given only to 78 percent of
newborn children. The BCG vaccination figure was better at 94 percent
but in the previous year it was near 100 percent. Another shocking
revelation is that only 74 percent of expectant mothers got their
tetanus vaccine shot.
It is safe to assume that the 5 to 10 million children left out of the
vaccination loop are from the most vulnerable sections of our society.
So would have been the case with pregnant women, unable to get the
tetanus shot which guards against the life-threatening infection.
In 2006 and 2007, most of these vaccinations had reached more than 90
percent of the women and children who need it the most. The reason
cited for the sloppy vaccinations figures is the
“shortage” of these essential vaccines due to the
closure of three major public sector manufacturers since January 2008
over quality issues. The combined “shortage” of
these vaccines is estimated to be 100 million doses. The top three
private manufacturers—Serum Institute, Panacea Biotec and
Bharat Biotech—who supply more than half their production to
the whole world have more than three times the spare capacity to make
available the essential vaccines for the children if the government
wants it.
In fact, the government procurement is stalled over price negotiations
and the request from private companies for a sustainable price. The
government bought two of these vaccines for Rs 65 crore in 2008-09,
including some from the defunct public sector units.
What is surprising is that the Manmohan Singh government which swears
by the “aam aadmi”(common people) will harm the
health of the nation’s future citizens over a few crore
Rupees. More shocking is the fact that the same government is willing
to even consider a Rs 15,000 crore bailout package for the floundering
“national” airline which has actually become a
“notional” airline due to mismanagement and
allowing more than two-thirds of Indians flying abroad to depend on
foreign carriers. The annual travel and security expense of the Union
Cabinet which has nearly 80 ministers is more than the money required
to vaccinate all the newborn babies in the country every year.
The vaccination percentage of even some of our poor neighboring
countries is more than that of our nation whose policy makers leave no
stone unturned to reach a “global super power”
status. Certainly, a “super power” cannot be built
on the foundations of an “unhealthy nation” in the
making.
The nation cannot find the funds to buy the essential vaccines for its
youngest citizens. At the same time, the global community has placed
its faith in the ability of some of India’s top vaccine
manufacturers to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza (swine
flu) raging all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has
termed swine flu “unstoppable” in late July and
expects even bigger surge in infections from the currently 175,000
patients when the winter sets in over the Northern Hemisphere. The
pandemic vaccine against the H1N1 virus will be the key weapon in the
fight against it. Indian companies are confident of developing the
vaccine by September. Australia’s CSL, among the 26 companies
working on it, has already started the world’s first human
trials of a swine flu vaccine. The vaccine made in India will reach
needy people around the world. But the Indian government has yet to
indicate whether it will order a stockpile for her citizens. When will
the nation learn from its past mistakes on the vaccine front?
<sureshn@cybermedia.co.in>