It is official now: the stock of 4.5 lakh vaccines for Japanese Encephalitis (JE), which had already suffered a loss of potency was due to the fault in maintaining the cold chain at the Government Medical Store Depot (GMSD) in Karnal.This comes after a team from the Union Health Ministry had conducted an inspection of the cold storage at the GMSD.The team found that the stocks sent two months ago to states like UP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal was in Stage I, which indicated that the fault occurred only after the stocks were dispatched.Following these initial reports, experts from the ministry will once again reinspect the Karnal unit to find out further details so that action could be taken against the errant officials of GMSD. “It is now clear that the fault existed at the Karnal unit itself and it occurred in the past two months. But in order to find out how and when this fault did occur, a team of experts will soon visit the unit,” said a senior official of the Health Ministry.Following the controversy over the vaccine in the state, the Centre has decided to withdraw the supply and replace it with the fresh stock. The previous stock will be used for the JE vaccination campaign rather than the routine immunisation programme.“We will not use this supply in any case for the children in the state. The vaccine sent by the Centre was to be used under the routine immunisation in the most sensitive areas for JE. Thus, any reduction in the potency could be lethal for the children,” said Dr M L Khatloiya, the Director General, Medical and Health Uttar Pradesh.The Centre, however, is yet to decide as to which state will eventually receive the present supply of the vaccine, which is lying with UP. “It is true that the JE vaccine lying with the UP government has lost some of its potency. But our experts, who had visited the state, have found that it can still be used within the next two months,” said a senior official, Infectious Disease wing, Union Health Ministry.“It is for sure that we cannot use the present stocks for the routine immunisation programme. But it can be used for the JE vaccination programme,” added the official.It was learnt that Bihar, which is going to start the JE vaccination campaign from December, is one of the probable states that could receive this stock.
