National Switch Day- Change in Administration of Polio Vaccine

April 25, 2016: Vaccination Week in the Americas will be observed from 23rd-30th April, 2016. This year’s theme is ‘Go for the gold! Get vaccinated!’ This theme, inspired by the upcoming Olympic Games was chosen to encourage people to get vaccinated and protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities against vaccine-preventable diseases.

 

This year’s observance coincides with the WHO’s Polio Eradication Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 which recommended that by April 2016 , the polio vaccine should be switched from the Trivalent OPV(topv) to the Bivalent OPV(bOPV) and the Inactivated Polio Vaccine.

 

This switch has become necessary since the trivalent version of the vaccine contains a polio strain that has been found to mutate from the weakened form to the active form as it passes through the human gut. In countries with poor sanitation, this has actually led to polio outbreaks. The new method of vaccination will combine an oral dose with an injectable dose in order to offer the same protection while mitigating the risk of outbreaks.

Immunization efforts have reduced the number of polio occurrences globally by more than 99% over the last two decades. The transition from tOPV to bOPV forms part of the polio eradication strategy.

 

In this regard, April 26th 2016 has been selected as the ‘National Switch Day’, and will be an internationally synchronized event, where health workers in every health facility will conduct the switching of the vaccine, disposing of all tOPV vials.

 

Subsequently, ‘switch monitors’ will visit health facilities and private practitioners during the two weeks after the National Switch Day. They are to verify that no tOPV stocks remain at facilities and any remaining stocks of tOPV, if found should be removed. Any area continuing to use tOPV after all others have switched to bOPV put neighbouring communities at risk of a cVDPV2 (polio type 2) outbreak.