Vaccines: India is being held to ransom.

November 19, 2006

Dear Sirs, After going through the newspaper stories enclosed below we should realise that the economic aspect of vaccines has overshadowed the necessity aspect. What vaccines Indian infants should have as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is decided by "researchers and planners" seated in London and Geneva. Bill Gates (and his Bill and Melinda Gates Childrens Vaccine Program) is today deciding more than just India's IT scenario, the man is mired neck deep in the country's health policies as well. He probably thinks he is doing a great service, over and above his ardent desire to remain in the good books of the American Senate, by being the largest sponsor of GAVI, the Global Alliance of Vaccine Initiative. GAVI today claims that the "health benefits" available to children of the richer countries should accrue to the poorer nations also. What it does not say is that, in the process, a whole lot of rich people associated with the vaccine industry, mostly as shareholders and owners, become richer. As the doctors in India point out, GAVI and its components, WHO and UNICEF, prefer to directly deal with the "planners" in India without bothering about the ground realities as perceived by the senior physicians of the country, many of whom are deeply critical about the future immunisation plans of the Govt of India. The HepB vaccine, the HiB, the TIF influenza vaccine, meningococcal, the pnemonococcal are all costly vaccines that the poor in India may "unfortunately miss out" due to the cost burden. Therefore the good samaritans plan to hijack India's health budget and include these vaccines into the UIP, a campaign which ensures children receive these vaccines free, the cost of which is born by the GOI.

Needless to say, such a situation is loose-loose for the Indian citizen and win-win for GAVI and its allies, as also the pharmaceutical industry which is hands in glove with them. These vaccines, as senior doctors point out, have no place in India whose priorities are different. They also point out that costs of vaccine adverse effects are not considered while all out efforts are being made to include these vaccines, the HepB in particular, in the UIP. The service obviously comes at a great cost. Funds are diverted from constructive activities, the new diseases unleashed drain the ordinary person and the "good samaritans" plan newer vaccines for the new diseases. A vicious circle that can be broken only if the health consumers, aka the ordinary citizen, wake up and demand that they too should be a part of the "grand plan". After all it is their health which is at

stake. Yours, Jagannath. ------------------------ Tehelka Story: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main22.asp?filename=Ne111806Reality_checks.asp Excerpt: In 1998, the health ministry turned down a .... proposal for a universal Hepatitis B vaccination plan on cost grounds. Then Union Minister of State for Health, Dalit Ezhilmalai told the Rajya Sabha, “Hepatitis B vaccination has not been included under the National Immunisation Programme as the estimated cost will be around Rs 525 crore per annum … Availability of funds to

sustain this over such a long period cannot be assured.” In September 2005, the Union Health Minister Dr A. Ramadoss announced that the 1998-pilot project was successful and universal vaccination against the Hepatitis B would be brought under the National Immunisation Programme. "....need for Hepatitis B vaccination has been grossly exaggerated. It says that according to the Indian Association for Study of the Liver (INASL), 1.84 lakh people in India die from liver cancer (Hepatitis B is one of its causes) annually. But, the report points out that according to the Indian Council of Medical Research only 5,000 die from liver cancer induced by Hepatitis B in India. “ As of now the only beneficiaries seem to be vaccine manufacturers,” " There are also questions about vaccination programmes in developing

countries like India providing a foothold for multinational pharmaceutical industries to expand their markets. Story in Hindu: http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/22/stories/2002042205130400.htm Arguing that not all vaccines have the same societal benefits, Dr. Puliyel also seconds the findings of the study. "Organisations like the WHO must avoid the blandishments of vaccine manufacturers if they are to retain their credibility,'' he said. -------------------- "I am, and have been for years a confirmed

anti-vaccinationist. I have not the least doubt in my mind that vaccination is a filthy process that is harmful in the end" - Mahatma Gandhi (Koren Publications Inc.)

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