ACIP Moves Ahead With Plans for Use of IPV

REPRESENTING A BIG step toward the routine use of inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine (IPV) in children's immunization programs, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has approved a recommendation to make plans to expand the use of IPV in general pediatric practice. The vote was five in favor and two abstentions. The two abstainers recused themselves on the grounds of conflict of interest. One member was a consultant for a vaccine manufacturer, the other was a member of a group that studied the use of IPV and the live oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Committee chair Jeffrey P. Davis, MD, chief medical officer of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services, did not vote. The ACIP recommendation is based on the fact that eight to 10 cases of paralytic polio occur each year in the United States because of the use of