Supplies of living polio vaccines to Russian regions to start in late

MOSCOW, February 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Ministry of Health and
Social Development will begin supplies of living polio vaccines to Russian regions in late March, a ministry official said on Monday.
"Now we are collecting demands from the regions," Galina Chistyakova,
a deputy director of the ministry's department, told a news conference.
"Supplies will start in late March." She cited a ministry order of January 31, 2011 changing the scheme of vaccination against poliomyelitis of children under one year old. Under the new scheme, children under one will be twice inoculated with dead vaccines and the third vaccine will be living. Since 2008, babies in Russia have been inoculated only with dead vaccines. The change in the vaccination scheme was made following last summer's polio outbreak in Tajikistan. The infection has been brought to Russia and specialists say a living vaccine is needed to develop life-long immunity.
According to Mikhail Mikhailov, the director of Chumakov Polio
Institute, the living vaccine is not harmful to babies' health, since it comes third, and after two killed vaccines a baby's organism must be prepared for a living one. "We do not think there will be another polio outbreak in Tajikistan this year, but we must be ready," he said.
Meanwhile, the ministry official reassured there will be no problems
with vaccines supplies.