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A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and says U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. The decision Monday halts an order by Kennedy - announced in January - to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Leading medical groups voiced alarm at the changes. The American Academy of Pediatrics and some other groups amended a lawsuit filed in July, asking the judge to stop the government from scaling back the nation's childhood vaccination schedule. The judge also says Kennedy's reconstitution of the vaccine advisory panel likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments - and all decisions made by the reformed committee - put on hold.
Oral polio vaccines (OPVs) are safe, effective and central to global eradication efforts, but there is a need for improved immunisation to combat the emergence of vaccine-derived poliovirus strains, a US-based public health expert said. Referring to India's current status, Gates Foundation Deputy Director Dr Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay said paralytic outbreaks from circulating strains of variant polioviruses have not been detected in recent years, an indication that the country has been able to "maintain high routine immunisation coverage". Notably, India was certified polio-free in March 2014. "Oral polio vaccines (OPVs) are safe, effective, affordable, and easy to deliver. Use of OPV through routine immunisation and mass vaccination campaigns has eliminated poliovirus transmission and prevented paralysis in children across the world, with 99.9 per cent of the world polio-free," Bandyopadhyay told PTI from Seattle, USA. He said variant strains primarily emerge in areas with weak .