Fact Check: Were 496,000 Children In India Paralyzed Between 2000 & 2017 From Bill Gates Polio Vaccine? - The Logical Indian
Fact Check: Were 496,000 Children In India Paralyzed Between 2000 & 2017 From Bill Gates Polio Vaccine? - The Logical Indian |
- Fact Check: Were 496,000 Children In India Paralyzed Between 2000 & 2017 From Bill Gates Polio Vaccine? - The Logical Indian
- Polio vaccine for Covid-19 ‘testable’, may offer limited protection: Report - Hindustan Times
- Coronavirus vaccine update: MMR shot, favipiravir drug in India, and more - Business Standard
| Posted: 24 May 2020 04:01 AM PDT Bill and Melinda Gates have been targeted by anti-vaxxers for long time for his work on vaccination. Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has donated funds to GAVI foundation, an organisation in forefront of making vaccination available to countries who can't afford it for its population. In light of this, posts were shared on social media platforms with the claim that their foundation had tested a polio vaccine in India that left at least 490,000 children paralyzed. "Bill Gates foundation tested a polio vax in India between 2000 & 2017 and paralysed 496,000 children," reads one such post dated April 13, 2020. The post was shared over 17,000 times. Similar posts which claimed that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was asked to leave India also circulated in April and May on Facebook here, here and here. Claim: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had tested polio vaccine in India between 2000 & 2017 and had paralysed 496,000 children. Fact Check:The claim is misleading. According to a report by PolitiFact, the claim can be traced back to an Instagram post by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former US president John F. Kennedy and a leader of the World Mercury Project on April 7. World Mercury Project, a group headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a California-based organization has been vocal against vaccines. Further, they are one of the biggest sources of anti-vaccine advertisements on Facebook. "Indian doctors blame the Gates campaign for a devastating vaccine-strain polio epidemic that paralyzed 496,000 children between 2000 and 2017," Kennedy wrote.
In an email correspondence with Politifact, the Gates Foundation has debunked the claims. According to a report by WHO, India was officially declared polio-free in 2014. Further, no evidence could be found which proved that almost half a million Indian children were given polio or suffered from paralysis due to vaccine-derived polioviruses. "Over the past 10 years, more than 10 billion doses of Oral poliovirus vaccines (OPV) have been administered to over 2.5 billion children worldwide, preventing more than 10 million polio cases during that period," reads another report by WHO. However, the World Health Organization does mention that it is possible to contract polio from vaccines but it is extremely rare. According to the agency 1 in 2.7 million oral doses results in vaccine-associated paralytic polio. Although there have been reports of contaminated vaccine even after the eradication of polio in India. The data from the WHO show that there were 17 cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus cases recorded in India between 2000 and 2017. The data shows that cases were recorded in India only in 2009 and 2010, as seen in the screenshots below, in which cVDPV (circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus). Therefore it can be ascertained that the claims made in the viral posts are false.  |
| Polio vaccine for Covid-19 ‘testable’, may offer limited protection: Report - Hindustan Times Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:17 AM PDT  Indian scientists have responded cautiously to a suggestion by global researchers that the oral polio vaccine be tested for Covid-19 treatment, saying it is a "testable idea" based on a sound scientific concept but may offer only limited protection against the infection. With a vaccine for Covid-19 at least a year away, scientists say repurposing already safe and effective vaccines is the way to go for immediate relief against Covid-19. The repurposed vaccines could include the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and the Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) used against tuberculosis, both part of the immunisation given to Indian children. It is worth conducting a clinical trial, said Ram Vishwakarma, director of the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) in Jammu. He was responding to a study last week by an international team of researchers in the journal Science. The researchers, including Shyamasundaran Kottili and Robert Gallo from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the US, said the OPV should be tested to see if it might protect people from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They noted that the vaccine used to prevent poliomyelitis infections has been around since the 1950s, and is found to provide some protection against other viral infections. The stimulation of innate immunity by attenuated vaccines -- live but with substantially reduced virulence -- in general and OPV in particular could provide temporary protection against Covid-19, the scientists noted. Innate immunity is one of the two main immunity strategies found in vertebrates, including humans. According to Vishwakarma, the idea proposed by Gallo, an internationally renowned virologist who co-discovered that HIV causes AIDS, is based on the fact that people who have undergone polio vaccination boost their innate immunity. "It is a sound scientific concept but we do not know what will eventually happen because this has multiple phases. It may help patients in the early phase, with mild and moderate symptoms but may not help serious patients," Vishwakarma told PTI. "It is a testable idea based on a scientific hypothesis that is in turn based on the concept of what we call trained immunity, a non-specific way to boost innate immunity for our immune system to fight out the virus," Vishwakarma explained. India has been implementing a pulse polio programme since 1995 with an aim to eradicate polio, added virologist Upasana Ray. This is in accordance with a resolution passed by the World Health Assembly in 1988 for polio eradication globally. "Every year, children between 0-5 years age are immunised with polio vaccine. It is a very widespread and well established programme," Ray, senior scientist at CSIR-IICB, Kolkata, told PTI. Immunologist Satyajit Rath added that it is best to keep in mind that Gallo and his team are not talking about the function of the OPV as a 'vaccine' which generates a specific immune response. "Instead, it is simply the idea of giving people a viral infection, any viral infection, so that there is activation of innate antiviral and inflammatory immunity, which might reduce the chances of another virus (SARS-CoV-2) infection which enters at the same time," Rath, from the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in New Delhi, told PTI. "Do I think this might work? It might, to some very modest extent, would be my guess, and not enough to make it particularly worthwhile," he said. Noting that repurposing vaccines is a good idea, Ray said there is a chance of cross protection to some extent if the proteins of two pathogens have similar sequences even at some epitopes. An epitope is a part of an antigen or a foreign substance that is recognised by the immune system cells, specifically by antibodies, B cells and T cells. "For polio also, we first need to see if any of the polio proteins show overlapping T or B cell epitopes as compared to that of SARS-COV-2. If there are, it might provide some protection... To what extent? That needs validation," said Ray. Vishwakarma said the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is currently testing a repurposed vaccine against Covid-19 on the similar lines of a polio vaccine. It is testing Cadila Pharmaceuticals' Sepsivac against Covid-19 in a Phase 2 clinical trial. This immunotherapy treatment, which boosts "innate immunity", has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for clinical trials, he said. Rath noted that there are major potential limitations to using the polio vaccine for Covid-19. First, it is likely that this 'protection' by ongoing innate immune activation is likely to be of short duration. Second, the likelihood is that a lot of people in India, particularly children, are immune to polio, and therefore will not actually let the OPV 'work' as an infection, he said. "Instead, polio-immune individuals would be 'protected' against yet more vaccine, which would defeat the SARS-CoV-2-related purpose," Rath noted. "In fact, even amongst those who do not have current anti-polio antibodies, this 'protection' would likely be a transient one-time effect for a few days which is unlikely to be repeatable since this first exposure would make them polio-immune," he said. Agreeing with Rath, Ray noted that most people in India are already vaccinated against polio in childhood. "Aren't those people getting infected? Say yes, still they are.......then the next question could be, are they getting sick similar to non-vaccinated ones?" she said. "Next, is it possible that for polio it is providing life-long protection. Is it possible that in case some epitopes are matching that vaccination could help? All these are blind spots. Need time testing," said Ray.  |
| Coronavirus vaccine update: MMR shot, favipiravir drug in India, and more - Business Standard Posted: 22 Jun 2020 01:58 AM PDT  The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded over 150,000 cases of coronavirus in a single day on June 22. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases globally crossed the 9-million mark. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at WHO, said nearly 2 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine would be ready by the end of next year. However, many scientists still predict that a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, could take 12-18 months to develop. Last month, global pharmaceutical major Pfizer said it believed a vaccine to prevent Covid-19 could be ready by the end of October. There are currently over 100 vaccines at various stages of trials. Coronavirus treatment: Here are updates on coronavirus vaccine/drug development: 1. Coronavrius vaccine: Get MMR shot to protect against severe coronavirus Administering the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine could serve as a preventive measure to dampen septic inflammation associated with the virus infection, say researchers. Vaccination with MMR in immune-competent individuals has no contraindications and may be especially effective for health care workers who can easily be exposed to Covid-19, said experts in a paper published in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. "A clinical trial with MMR in high-risk populations may provide a low-risk-high-reward preventive measure in saving lives during the Covid-19 pandemic," said Dr Paul Fidel, Associate Dean for Research at Louisiana State University Health School of Dentistry. "I don't think it's going to hurt anybody to have an MMR vaccine that would protect against the measles, mumps, and rubella with this potential added benefit of helping against Covid-19," Fidel added. 2. GSK's quest: Being the best, not first, in race for coronavirus vaccine There has been a notable name missing from the frontrunners in the race to test experimental immunisation against the novel coronavirus: the world's largest vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline. GSK, which is in seven collaborations with institutions or firms globally, only entered the clinical trial stage with one project on Friday British group's chief medical officer for vaccines Thomas Breuer said,"We want to be best in class, and if others are a little faster I will congratulate them because they can take care of maybe the healthcare workers in selected countries, but the world needs billions of doses and we will contribute to this effort," Breuer told Reuters. 3. Coronavirus treatment: Covid-19 drug remdesivir a. Glenmark drug favipiravir hits market, priced at Rs 103 a pill Oral antiviral drug favipiravir, which is used to treat patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infection, will now be available in the Indian market under the brand name FabiFlu at Rs 103 per tablet. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals secured the drug regulator's nod on Friday to manufacture and market the drug in India. The drug has shown promise in multiple global studies, with reduction in viral load, faster fever resolution, and faster clinical recovery. In India, the drug will be sold at retail chemist outlets as well as hospitals. b. Hetero to launch Covid drug Remdesivir under brand name Covifor in India Hyderabad-based Hetero Labs on Sunday said it had received regulatory approval to manufacture and market antiviral drug remdesivir for treating coronavirus patients. Hetero's generic version of remdesivir will be marketed under the brand name 'Covifor' in India, said the company after getting approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). c. Cipla launches generic remdesivir under brand name Cipremi Cipla Ltd announced the launch of its generic version of remdesivir, which has been authorised for emergency use in treatment of Covid-19 patients by the USFDA, under its brand name Cipremi. 4. Coronavirus vaccine: Chinese vaccine may not be ready for sale until at least 2021 A coronavirus vaccine candidate China is developing may not be ready for sale until at least 2021, as researchers struggle to move into large-scale human trials in the country because of a lack of new infections, a senior company executive said. More than 10 experimental vaccines are being tested in humans globally as scientists race to protect against the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 450,000 people. But none of them has yet passed late-stage phase 3 trials that require thousands of participants to determine a vaccine candidate's effectiveness. China, where the virus first originated last year, saw less than 10 new local cases reported daily on average in May, making it less favourable for a late-stage clinical trial. "We hope we can launch more international cooperations and conduct a multiple-centre phase 3 clinical study to help bring the vaccine to the market," China National Biotec Group's (CNBG) vice president Zhang Yutao told state media China News Service. 5. Coronavirus vaccine: CSIR gets nod for phase III trials of antiviral drug Umifenovir Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-constituent lab CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow has received permission to carry out Phase III trial of antiviral drug Umifenovir. Umifenovir is mainly used for treatment of influenza and is available in China and Russia, and has recently come into prominence due to its potential use for Covid19 patients. 6. Polio vaccine for Covid-19 testable', say scientists Indian scientists have responded cautiously to a suggestion by global researchers that the oral polio vaccine be tested for Covid-19, saying it is a testable idea based on a sound scientific concept but may offer only limited protection against the infection. With a vaccine for Covid-19 at least a year away, scientists say repurposing already safe and effective vaccines is the way to go for immediate relief against Covid-19. The repurposed vaccines could includethe oral polio vaccine (OPV) and the Bacillus CalmetteGuerin (BCG)used against tuberculosis, both part of the immunisation given to Indian children. It is worth conducting a clinical trial, said Ram Vishwakarma, director of the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) in Jammu. 7. Russia starts clinical trials of coronavirus vaccine Clinical trials of a Russian coronavirus vaccine have started Wednesday, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Two forms of the vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya research institute liquid and powder for injections will be tested on two groups of volunteers, 38 people each, the statement said. The participants will be isolated in two Moscow hospitals. The Gamaleya institute made headlines last month when its director, professor Alexander Gintsburg, made a statement that he and other researchers had tried the vaccine on themselves before the start of human studies. 8. CureVac's experimental coronavirus vaccine Unlisted biotech firm CureVac has become the second company after rival BioNTech to launch human trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in Germany, eyeing potential regulatory approval in mid-2021. 9. Patanjali's Ayurvedic coronavirus treatment "We are not talking about an immunity booster. We are talking about a cure," said Acharya Balkrishna, managing director of Patanjali. According to the firm, an Ayurvedic medicine developed by the company has been able to cure Covid-19 patients within 5-14 days. The clinical trials were conducted in Indore and in Jaipur after Patanjali secured permission. 10. Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine status The AZD1222 vaccine, jointly developed by British pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, is likely to provide protection against contracting Covid-19 for about a year, the company's chief executive has told a news agency. The British drugmaker has already begun human trials of the vaccine, with a phase I trial in Britain due to end soon and a phase III trial already begun, Pascal Soriot told broadcaster Bel RTL. "We think that it will protect for about a year," Soriot said. BioNTech, Novavax, Sinovac, CanSino Biologics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are among those leading the fight against coornavirus. How can a person contact coronavirus? The health agencies have so far identified respiratory-droplet contact as the major mode of Covid-19 transmission. These large fluid droplets can transfer virus from one person to another if they land on the eyes, nose or mouth. But they tend to fall to the ground or on other surfaces pretty quickly. According to some researchers, the new coronavirus can also be transmitted through aerosols, or minuscule droplets that float in the air longer than large droplets. These aerosols can be directly inhaled. Crowded events, poorly ventilated areas and places where people are talking loudly- or singing, in one famous case - maximize the risk of contracting Covid-19 disease, according to growing consensus about the central question. First Published: Mon, June 22 2020. 14:28 IST  |
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