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Jab in the dark

  • 14/10/2005

Jab in the dark The 2005 action plan of the up government to deal with je mentions vaccines almost as a footnote. Now, after many high-profile visits of politicians of various ilk to the affected areas, suddenly, "vaccines' have become the sure-fire solution to eastern up 's ills. The cry to make more vaccine doses available in the state is today almost universal.

The World Health Organization has approved only one vaccine: that derived from mouse brain infected with the virus. This was first licensed in Japan in 1954, and is in production in India, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Its sole manufacturer in India is the Central Research Institute (cri) in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, run by the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

Vaccine making is a cumbersome, eight-month-long process.A strain of je virus is injected into the brain of mice and allowed to multiply for four days. Thereafter, the brain in taken out and the virus separated. The virus is then inactivated

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