Introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine in National Immunization Program and Polio Endgame Strategy

The World Health Organization declared India among other 10 countries in South East Region - as 'polio-free' in 2014. Since then, the Government of India (GoI) has scaled up its initiatives against polio endgame which targets virus eradication and sequential withdrawal of type 2 virus from oral polio vaccine (OPV). However, prior to choosing the switch from trivalent OPV (t-OPV) to bivalent OPV (b-OPV), it was suggested to include inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) in the national immunization schedule to protect vaccine naïve population against type 2 poliovirus. The GoI declared introduction of single dose of intramuscular IPV at 14 weeks since October 2015. In addition, anticipating the scarcity of IPV at present in India, GoI also recommended two intradermal doses of IPV in few states since April 2016. This review discusses the programmatic implications of these strategies along with recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Immunization Practices of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP-ACVIP) on polio endgame strategy.