Made- in- China JE drug a hit with govt
The government prefers buying JE vaccine from China as the drug available in India for the deadly virus is ‘ too expensive’
Even as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” pitch grows louder, the Indian government prefers buying Japanese Encephalitis ( JE) vaccine from China, given the cheapness of the drug. According to the Union health ministry, the only vaccine available in India for the deadly virus is “too expensive” so the government prefers to buy it from China.
Japanese encephalitis ( JE) is the most common cause of viral encephalitis in Asia- Pacific, causing inflammation brain.
The first indigenous vaccine against JE was launched last year in India. While it was initially thought to be an alternative to the cheap vaccines that were being imported from China. A year after the launch of the Indian vaccine, the situation has not changed. The indigenous vaccine approved by the Drug Controller General of India last year was aimed to provide better immunogenicity and long- term protection due to the unique manufacturing technologies. However,
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the with the India- made vaccine being expensive, the government is now left with no option but to keep importing it from China.
India needs about 80 lakh doses of vaccine annually. “While, from China it costs ` 21 per dose. The cost of India vaccine is at least four- five times higher. The vaccine from China is not only cost effective but is efficacious too. Therefore, it has so far not been thought to switch over the Indian manufacturers,” said the official.
While, the Chinese vaccine has been in the market for long, it was endorsed by the World Health Organisation last year when the International health agency approved the single- dose JE vaccine manufactured by China’s Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, making it the first Chineseproduced vaccine to be approved by the WHO.
The Chinese vaccine however is widely used for mass vaccination campaigns in China, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and North Korea.
With symptoms like high fever, headache, sensitivity to light, stiff neck and back, vomiting, and in severe cases, seizures, paralysis and even coma, Japanese encephalitis ( JE) is transmitted through mosquitoes. About 50,000 annual cases come forward every year in Asia. In India, the disease affects close to 171 districts and claims hundreds of lives each year, especially in Goarkhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.