A recent report from Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills has sent shockwaves through India: a two-year-old child has tested positive for polio. This is surprising because polio, a severe disease that can cause paralysis and even death, has mostly been controlled. Here’s what you need to know about this unusual case and what it means for you.

What’s Happening in Meghalaya?

A two-year-old in West Garo Hills has been diagnosed with polio, but it’s not the typical kind you might remember from the past. This case is related to something called a “vaccine-derived” polio virus. Sounds concerning, right? But don’t panic just yet. The health officials say this doesn’t put India’s status as a polio-free country at risk. They’re keeping a close eye to prevent any spread of the virus.

What Is Vaccine-Derived Polio?

So, what does “vaccine-derived” mean? Here’s a breakdown:

• Polio Vaccines: A vaccine known as the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), which is a liquid given by mouth.
• Rare Issue: Occasionally, the weakened virus in the OPV can turn into a stronger form that causes disease.
• How It Spreads: The weakened virus can sometimes spread from child to child, gaining strength and causing severe polio. This is what seems to have happened with the child in Meghalaya.

Why Is This Case Different?

• No Wild Polio: India was declared polio-free in 2014, meaning that no cases of the wild form of the virus (the one that occurs naturally) have been found in the country since 2011. This recent case is not from the wild virus but from a vaccine-derived strain.
• Other Cases: India has seen a few similar cases before. In 2013, a child in Maharashtra died from vaccine-derived polio, and there have been other cases since then, including one in Kerala last month.

How Is India Handling It?

• High Alert: Health officials are ensuring the infection doesn’t spread further. They’re checking that all children in the area are vaccinated to protect them.
• Vaccine Strategy: India uses both the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and the Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV). OPV is used for mass immunization but can also cause vaccine-derived polio. IPV, on the other hand, is effective but doesn’t prevent the virus from spreading to others. Experts suggest improving how we use IPV to reduce such risks.

Vaccine-derived polio paralysis in 1970s

In the 1970s, India’s polio vaccination strategy, influenced by WHO guidelines, led to widespread polio cases due to insufficient vaccine doses and a flawed approach to immunization. The recommended three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) failed to offer complete protection, especially in India’s tropical climate, causing hundreds of thousands of polio cases. Further complications arose with the introduction of combined vaccines, which sometimes triggered paralysis. 

The situation worsened with the involvement of Bill Gates and his aggressive vaccination campaigns, which led to a surge in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) cases. The issues persisted until policy changes in 2017 reduced the problematic vaccination regimen. These historical and recent controversies highlight the complex challenges and unintended consequences of vaccination policies, as well as the ongoing debates about their impact.

Bill Gates Vaccine Obsession

As reported by GreatGameIndia earlier, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former American President John F. Kennedy, in a lengthy piece exposed Bill Gates activities in India and his “obsession with vaccines”.

Promising his share of $450 million of $1.2 billion to eradicate Polio, Bill Gates took control of India’s National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) which mandated up to 50 doses of polio vaccines through overlapping immunization programs to children before the age of five.

Indian doctors blame the Gates campaign for a devastating non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) epidemic that paralyzed 490,000 children beyond expected rates between 2000 and 2017.

In 2017, the Indian government dialed back Gates’ vaccine regimen and asked Gates and his vaccine policies to leave India. NPAFP rates dropped precipitously.

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reluctantly admitted that the global explosion in polio is predominantly vaccine strain.

The most frightening epidemics in Congo, Afghanistan, and the Philippines, are all linked to vaccines. In fact, by 2018, 70% of global polio cases were vaccine strain.

Similar was the case in Africa. A week after World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that its decade-long vaccination campaign in Africa was successful, its own oral vaccine itself has sparked a new Polio outbreak in the continent. The outbreak was caused by mutation of strain in vaccine.

According to another peer reviewed study published in a respected journal by the world’s most authoritative vaccine scientists, Bill Gates DTP vaccine killed 10 times more African girls than the disease itself.

The vaccine apparently compromised their immune systems. Although such study was never performed before 2017, Bill Gates and the Vaccine Alliance GAVI and WHO pushed the vaccines on unsuspecting African babies.

Moreover, in unauthorized clinical trials Bill Gates funded NGO PATH killed tribal girls in India and got away with it.