Abstract
The live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) has been used for the poliomyelitis eradication program in Taiwan for a long time. Since it is manufactured from a highly thermolabile vaccine strain of poliovirus, it should be stored under the recommended temperature of -20°C or below. This study investigated and evaluated the efficiency of the cold chain system for maintaining the polio vaccine potency in Taiwan. We selected several health stations and local hospitals/pediatric offices in each County/City of Taiwan to take the OPV samples and test their potency from Nov. 1997 to Feb. 1998. Our results showed that the type-1 poliovirus of all OPV samples met the requirements for the potency test, showing titers were higher than the criteria of the WHO and the ROC (Taiwan) national standard. The type-2 and -3 polioviruses in most of the OPV samples showed titers higher than the criteria, with the exception of a few samples. We found that the degradation of type-2 poliovirus was associated with the thawed samples, which were stored at temperatures not low enough. The factor that caused the degradation of the type-3 poliovirus was unclear so far. Nevertheless, the results of this study indicated that the cold chain system used in Taiwan was generally satisfactory for the OPV storage.
Recommended Citation
Wang, D.-Y.; Yang, R.-I.; Yang, Y.-C.; Yeh, S.-Y.; Chen, T.-L.; Cheng, H.-F.; Hsieh, J.-T.; and Lin, C.-P.
(2000)
"The relationship between the cold chain system and vaccine potency in Taiwan: (II) Oral polio vaccine,"
Journal of Food and Drug Analysis: Vol. 8
:
Iss.
1
, Article 7.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.38212/2224-6614.2848
