Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, said that the global business community must now help win the global battle against polio because India has brought the world so close to victory. According to the CEO of a large vaccine research, development and manufacturing company, Olivier Charmeil: “This is a once in a generation opportunity - maybe once in a lifetime. It is now up to all of us to collectively build on India’s vast achievement. None of us would dare tell our grandchildren that we allowed polio to escape after it had been cornered and almost eliminated.”
Olivier Charmeil wrote to the directors of Rotary International to congratulate both the country and the members of the community service organization on their role in supporting the Indian government’s “monumental achievement in making India polio free.” The World Health Organization has described Rotary’s role as inspirational. Olivier Charmeil said that business leaders had joined international organizations such as UNICEF and WHO in backing India’s commitment to become polio free. “I think your example shows us what multidisciplinary, public-private partnerships can achieve,” he wrote. “I am proud that we have been a long term partner of Rotary International.”
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, celebrated three years without a case of polio in India, in the presence of World Health Organization, director general (DG), Margaret Chan at an event in New Delhi attended by the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh and by other dignitaries.
The last case of polio in India was reported in the state of West Bengal on the January 13, 2011.
Globally, Sanofi Pasteur provides more injectable and oral polio vaccines than any other company in the world, and has developed the technologies and production capabilities that make inactivated polio vaccines (IPV) affordable. These IPV vaccines are an essential part of the future path to a polio-free world. Sanofi Pasteur has been a longstanding partner to governments across the world by developing, manufacturing and supplying different vaccine solutions towards polio control.