Japanese encephalitis: No help from Centre, Assam to buy Chinese vaccines

Assam's health minister confirmed a plan to import around 2.5 crore vials of vaccines

Japanese encephalitis mosquito Japanese encephalitis is spread by mosquitoes | WHO

Assam will buy crores of vials of vaccine from China to counter Japanese encephalitis, the state government has indicated.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed, "Yes, we have a grand plan to import around 2.5 crore [vials of] vaccines for Japanese encephalitis from China."

About 170 people had died since last year because of Japanese encephalitis in Assam. The deaths due to Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh (where around 300 deaths occurred) is as serious a concern as in Assam, particularly among the children. Ironically, most of the deaths in Uttar Pradesh took place in Gorakhpur, the constituency of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his stronghold. Despite that, the Yogi Adityanath government is yet to take a hard decision about the vaccination programme like their Assam counterpart.

A senior IAS officer in Assam told THE WEEK, "Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had informed the prime minister and Union health minister about the situation in Assam because of Japanese encephalitis. But the Central government said they could only help the state in serving children. The state, therefore, would have no other option but to arrange [vaccines] for adults."

The Narendra Modi government is planning a nationwide Japanese encephalitis vaccination initiative for children across India very soon. A desperate Sonowal government decided to contact Chinese medicine manufacturers and gave the order to bring around 2.5 crore vials of vaccines for adults in Assam.

The IAS officer explained, “Women and elders in vulnerable areas would be given first preference. But all would get vaccinated by 2021.”

Japanese encephalitis is a vector-borne disease mostly carried by mosquitoes from pigs. So, the Assam government would first provide the vaccines to the pig cultivators first.

The decision by Assam is a historic one as India is one of the largest exporters of the vaccine in Asian countries. It, however, gets many vaccines, promoted by UN bodies, from European countries and the US.

The initiative in Assam is apparently the first big vaccination programme to be supplied by a Chinese firm.

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