To
The Editors, The Times of India,
The Pioneer,
Bhubaneswar.
4/2008
Dear Sir,

We strongly condemn the move of the local administration to browbeat and harass Dr Nityananda Sahoo of Ichhapur, Kendrapada, to try and forcefully administer the mOPV1 to his grandchildren to whom he has already administered homoeopathic prophylactics. Dr Sahoo seems well aware of the controversy surrounding the Oral Polio Vaccine. The vaccine has been banned worldwide for its propensity to cause Vaccine Attributed Paralytic Polio and Acute Flaccid Paralysis. The mOPV1 currently being administered without following the scientific protocol of informed consent and medical supervision has caused Acute Flaccid Paralysis to shoot up by four times in the regions where it has been administered as per the doctors of the Indian Medical Association. Moreover the irrational vaccination policy of the Government of India is not mandatory. The vaccine has also been in the news for transferring 60 identified carcinogenic simian viruses into humans and which are now being transmitted from parents to children. The OPV has also caused a new strain of the polio virus and has been linked to the AIDS epidemic. We also crticise the statement that unvaccinated children will be a threat to other children as the strain of the vaccine virus escapes via the faeces and is the strain that puts other unvaccinated children and even adults at risk. Dr Sahoo should be left alone and his decision respected. We would also request the health administration to issue a warranty of vaccine safety to all parents who decide to administer the controversial drops so that the responsibility can be pinned down and the hapless parents can seek compensation for the resultant sickness/paralysis when things go wrong.

Yours faithfully,
Jagannath Chatterjee,
General Secretary, NOVAC
Network of Anti-Vaccination Activists, India.
Plot no 1181/2146, Ratnakar Bag - 2,
Tankapani Road,
Bhubaneswar.