Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) introduced in Nov 2015. Around 4 crore doses administered to children.
Participating in the Global Polio Endgame Strategy (2013–2018), by introducing a highly effective IPV, in addition to OPV in routine immunization, it was introduced on November 30, 2015, and globally synchronized switch activity from trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) was achieved on April 25, 2016, with Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) and NTAGI that recommended IPV introduction as an additional dose along with third dose of DPT in the entire country in the first quarter of 2016.11 This was followed by introduction of the fractional intradermal dose IPV (f-IPV) in two doses at 6 weeks and 14 weeks replacing the single-dose intramuscular schedule. As IPV is an inactivated vaccine, it carries no risk of vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) and vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPP). Injectable polio vaccine provides excellent humoral immunity and also boosts intestinal mucosal immunity in OPV-primed children. Recent studies in India and Bangladesh have shown that two f-IPV intradermal doses provide similar levels of protection as compared with one full intramuscular IPV dose.12 The primary role of IPV will be to maintain immunity against type II poliovirus while removing all polio virus serotypes globally.