| IAP Guidebook on Immunization |
| Table of Contents | Committee on Immunization | |
|
||
| Prologue A sub-committee of IAP entitled “IAP Committee on Immunization” was first formed in 1986 with the then President, Dr. N. Sundaravalli as Chairperson, Dr. A. Parthasarathy as Convenor. The committee was entrusted with the specific tasks of defining the number of primary doses for Oral Polio Vaccine, incorporating the Measles vaccine in the then EPI schedule and advancing the age for first primary dose of DPT vaccine. The committee recommended 5 primary doses for OPV at birth, 6, 10, 14 weeks and 9 months; 3 primary doses for DPT at 6, 10, 14 weeks instead of at 3, 4, 5 months and one dose for Measles vaccine at 9 months followed by one booster dose for DPT and OPV at 15-18 months. To orient the members on the Universal Immunization Program (UIP), IAP visualized a training program. Dr. Raju C. Shah was appointed as National Coordinator in 1987 along with Several State Co-ordinators. A standard set of slides were prepared along with a reference book and countrywide orientation workshops were conducted in 1987-88 with assistance from the Government of India and UNICEF due to the untiring efforts of the then President, Dr. D. G. Benakappa and Dr. R. D. Potdar the then General Secretary. To consolidate the efforts of IAP, in the field of immunization, a regular sub-committee on immunization was formed in 1989, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mrs. A. B. Desai with Dr. Raju C. Shah as Convenor and Dr. Vijay Agarwal, Dr. Ashok Dutta, Dr. S. K. Mittal and Dr. A. Parthasarathy as members along with the respective Presidents and Secretaries as ex-officio members. This committee popularised the concepts in Pediatric immunization and also brought out informative publications, conducted several update meets throughout the country and ultimately came out with a reference volume the “Blue Book of IAP” entitled “Immunity, Immunization and Infectious Diseases.” This marked a great era of academic achievement. The present committee acknowledges with gratitude the contribution made by IAPCOI 1994-2000 with Dr. T. Jacob John as Chairman, Dr. A. Parthasarathy and Dr. A. P. Dubey as Convenors, Dr. S. R. Banerjee, Dr. M. Indrashekhar Rao, Dr. M. Nagaraja Rao, Dr. N. Shendurnikar, Dr. H. P. S. Sachdev, Dr. Tapan Kumar Ghosh, Dr. Thomas Cherian and Dr. Naveen Thacker, as members, Dr. M. R. Lokeshwar, Dr. Swati Y. Bhave, Dr. Raju C. Shah, Dr. R. N. Srivastava and Dr. Y. K. Amdekar as ex-officio members. A long cherished dream of IAP first materialised in 1997. A standard “IAP Immunization and Health Record” and a set of “Teaching slides on Immunization” for the benefit of faculty members and post graduates in Pediatrics as well as for the practicing pediatricians and a “Guide Book on Immunization” which were the felt needs of the IAP for a long time, were produced under the stewardship of Dr. A. Parthasarathy, the then President of the Academy. Simultaneously several immunization update meets under the banner Jenner Symposia were conducted throughout the country under Dr. Swati Bhave, as the National Coordinator with active participation of IAPCOI members. The IAP Policies, Recommendations and Guidelines formulated under the stewardship of Dr. T. Jacob John in 1999 have since been updated as of March 2001. The present effort is to consolidate the contributions made by the Committees on Immunization from 1986-2000 onwards and organise IAP Jenner Plus Symposia on Immunization throughout the country. With a decade of dedicated work by a team of experts the present addition to the existing armamentarium of academic material on immunization is presented to you. You are requested to go through the contents carefully and indicate your further needs to the undersigned so that we can incorporate more details in future editions. We are confident that the guidelines presented in this Guide Book will serve as a ‘table top reference’ both for the faculty cum postgraduates and the practitioners. On this memorable occasion we acknowledge with gratitude and the guidance from our past and present Presidents and the financial help rendered by M/s. Glaxo SmithKline, India.
|