Use polio vaccine in Covid fight: Experts
BENGALURU: Can the oral polio vaccine help in the fight against Covid-19? With a vaccine for Covid-19 at least some months away, experts from Bengaluru, the UK and the USA are suggesting the use of oral polio vaccine in order to activate the innate immune system. They have collaborated and jointly written a scientific report on repurposing the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for adults above 18 years of age who include healthcare workers, people with comorbidities and the elderly population.
A pharmacogenomic study on Covid-19 and OPV was done at the HCG Cancer Centre in Bengaluru and the experts found that the OPV given to patients early in life can help in killing the virus faster and even among older people to prevent them from contracting Covid-19. They have written to the Central government to allow clinical trials of OPV.
Dr Vishal Rao, Regional Director - Head Neck Surgical Oncology and Associate Dean - Centre of Academics and Research HCG Cancer Centre, Bengaluru, India, who was part of the study said, “When we look at the genomic study, the OPV and the coronavirus are both RNA virus. If the OPV is given to a person in the initial stage, which is before getting infected, it reactivates the immune system. Our study and hypothesis have showcased that OPV can be a game changer.
Generally, the polio vaccine lasts for a lifetime. But when a reactivation dose is given, it helps to give immunity against the coronavirus.” The study stated that OPV regulates the trained innate immunity by epigenetic modifications and metabolic programming. This results in enhanced and prolonged immune response by cells of the innate immune system (NK cells & macrophages) upon exposure to a new invading pathogen like SAR-CoV2.
“OPV is cost-effective and it can be easily produced. And there are zero complications with OPV. For now , our focus is not on the paediatrics group as many would have been recently vaccinated and they are already being benefitted,” added Dr Rao. The experts have recommended to the Government of India to conduct an epidemiological study to draw inferences on the correlation between polio immunization coverage and overall morbidity and mortality for Covid-19 in India.
Next, to conduct a cluster randomized trial on the effect of OPV on adults to test whether this vaccine reduces the risk of morbidity, hospital admission or mortality. And to partner with the Bandim Health Project, which implements a health and demographic surveillance system, to conduct a multi-centric trial on live attenuated vaccines and the benefits they confer on rural and low socio-economic populations.
“Studies on the benefits of OPV and preventing Covid-19 are going on in Denmark, the USA and Africa. The Denmark Bandim Health Project which has ongoing trials, has joined hands with us to begin trials in India. However, the government needs to give its approval,” said Dr Rao.