PMO receives complaint against HPV vaccine

New Delhi: Acting on a complaint to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the health ministry has asked the drugs regulator to take "necessary action" against alleged attempts to introduce HPV vaccine, used for preventing cervical cancer, in India.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, requesting him to stop the introduction of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine in the country.

SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said that he had received a letter from an Assistant Drugs Controller (India), which stated that the PMO referred the complaint to it.

The SJM leader cited a World Health Organization (WHO) report which stated that this vaccine had the highest rate of adverse effects among all the vaccines in use.

Mahajan claims that some big pharma firms have managed to introduce the vaccine in Punjab although it does not have the approval of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.