Are vaccine makers influencing country’s immunization plan?

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/are-vaccine-makers-influencing-countrys-immunization-plan/articleshow/56162808.cms

HIGHLIGHTS

• A key official of the Indian Academy of Paediatricians has raised serious issues of funding and conflict in an open letter to the president
• The association, one of biggest for paediatricians in India, is heavily dependent on funding from vaccine manufacturers, he has pointed out

Are all vaccines recommended by your paediatrician actually required or merely pushed to favour vaccine companies that reward the biggest association of paediatricians in India?

A key official of the Indian Academy of Paediatricians (IPA) has raised serious issues of funding and conflict in an open letter to the president. The association, one of biggest for paediatricians in India, is heavily dependent on funding from vaccine manufacturers, he pointed out. Immunisation guidelines are tweaked to include products of the funding companies, he alleged, and the technical committee members who decide the guidelines are on the board of vaccine manufacturers and paid by them. Paediatricians, in turn, get hefty margins on vaccines they administer.

The open letter was sent by Dr Vipin Vashishtha, convener of IPA's Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation Practices (ACVIP), to president Dr Anupam Sachdeva. It followed a controversy sparked off by IAP's recommended Immunisation Schedule 2016 being removed from the website of its journal, Indian Paediatrics, after being approved by the advisory committee, IAP office bearers, its executive board and the editorial board of the journal. The schedule was uploaded on August 27 and removed on September 3. In his letter, Vashishtha sought an explanation on the move and asked whether it had been done at the behest of the industry.