Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced that Brazil has chosen to introduce injectable polio vaccine in its national immunization programme with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) from Sanofi Pasteur. The IPV doses will be provided by Bio-Manguinhos, the Institute of Technology in Immuno-biologicals of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), through an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur. IPV will be included in the Brazilian national immunization programme starting in 2012.

“Injectable polio vaccine is the standard of care for polio vaccination in polio-free countries. Sanofi Pasteur commends the decision made by Brazil to introduce this vaccine in its public immunization program,” said Olivier Charmeil, president and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur. “We are very pleased to contribute again to Brazilian public health history by partnering with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation to ensure the availability of IPV to millions of children in Brazil.”

The WHO region of the Americas was certified polio-free in 1994. The Brazilian Immunization Programme will include two doses of IPV followed by two doses of OPV (oral polio vaccine).

“This initiative strengthens Fiocruz’s position as a strategic state health institution. We are very proud to be adding IPV, which will provide immunization to nearly 3 million children annually, to the contributions already made in the vaccine field,” said Dr Paulo Gadelha, president of Fiocruz.

An increasing number of polio-free countries are including IPV in their national polio immunization programs. As of today, more than 800 million doses of Sanofi Pasteur IPV and IPV containing vaccines have been distributed worldwide.

In 1974, Institut Mérieux (now Sanofi Pasteur) responded to a request from the Brazilian Ministry of Health to help fight a meningitis epidemic that was sweeping the country. The company provided meningococcal vaccine doses to vaccinate 90 million Brazilians, bringing to an end the meningitis epidemic. In 2008, Sanofi Pasteur shipped millions of doses of yellow fever vaccines to Brazil in response to emergency requests to help fight a yellow fever epidemic. In 2010, during the H1N1 pandemic, Sanofi Pasteur partnered with the Brazilian ministry of health to provide over 60 million doses of H1N1 vaccines.

The Institute of Technology on Immunobiologicals (Bio-Manguinhos), which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2011, is the unit of Fiocruz in charge of the technological development and production of vaccines, reagents for diagnosis and biopharmaceuticals.  Its primary mission is to meet national public health needs.  In 2011, it provided the National Immunization Program of the Ministry of Health with around 141 million doses of vaccines. Currently, it is in charge of providing 6 out of the 13 immunizing agents included in the national basic schedule and allocates the surplus of the yellow fever and meningococcal A/C vaccines to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  It is the leading provider of immunizing agents with over 50% public market share.  

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. In 1994, the Region of the Americas was certified polio-free by the World Health Organization, followed by the Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the European Region in 2002; worldwide efforts are continuing towards global eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.