Historical perspective
A sub – committeeof IAP entitled “IAP Committee on Immunizations “ was first formed in 1986 with the then president Dr.N.Sundaravalli as Chairperson and Dr.A.Parthasarathy as Convener.The Committee was entrusted with the specific tasks of defining the umber of primary doses for the specific tasks of defining the number of primary doses for oral polio vaccines, incorporating the Measles vaccines in the then EPI scheduleband advancing the age of first primary doses 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 two booster doses for DPT and OPV at 15-18 months and 5 years. To orient the members on the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) ,IAP visualized a training programDr.Raju C.Shah was appointed as National Coordinator in 1987 along with the several state Coordinators. A standard set of slides was prepared along with a reference book and country wide orientation workshops were conducted in 1987-88 with assistance from Government of India and UNICEF and due to the untiring efforts of the 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 convener and Dr .Vijay Agarwal, Dr .Ashok Dutta, Dr S.K. Mittal and Dr.A.Parrthasarathy as members along with the respective presidents and secretaries as ex-officio member. This Committee popularized the concepts in pediatric immunization , and also brought out informative publications, conducted several uodate meets throughout the country , and ultimately came out with a reference volume the “Blue Book of IAP” entitled “Immunity , Immunization , and Infectious Diseases” in 1994 . This mark a great era of academic achievement.
Later IAP Committees of immunization included the IAPCOI 1994 – 2000 with Dr. T. Jacob John as chairman, Dr. A. Parthasarathy and Dr. a. P.Dubey as conveners, Dr .S. R. Banerjee, Dr. M. Indershekhar Rao , Dr. M. Nagaraja Rao, Dr. N. Shendurnikar , Dr. H.p.s Sachdev, Dr. Tapan Kumar Gosh, Dr.Thomas Cherian and Dr. Naveen Thacker as members, Dr. M. R. Lokeshwar , Dr. Swati Y.Bhave , Dr.Raju C.Shah,Dr . R. N. Srivastasava 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 of on Immunization” for the befit of faculty members and post graduatesin pediatrics as well as for the practicing paediatrician 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 updates/meets under the banner of “Jenner Symposia” were conducted throughout the country under Dr.swati Bhave, as the National Coordinator with active participation of IAPCOI members. The IAP Policies, Recommendation and Guidelines formulated under the stewardship of Dr. T. Jacob in 1999 were updates and later published in March 2001.
The IAPCOI also organized “IAP Jenner Plus Symposia on Immunization” throughout the country, under the fguidance from Dr. Y. C Mathur , President and Dr. G. S. Hathi, Secretary-General, with Dr. S. S. Kamath as National Coordinator.
Aims & Objectives
01. To issue rational guidelines to its members through publication of guide book, updates in India Pediatrics and other journals, and its websites on various issues related to vaccines and practice of immunization.
02. To guide Govt of India on various issues related to constitution of National Immunization Program (Nip).
03. To guide Govt of India/ICMR/NTAGI on various issues related to introduction of new vaccines into its Nip.
04. To extend IAP’s advocacy role in providing impetus to vaccination drive all over the country.
05. To collaborate with Ministry of Health/ICMR/International & National Health Agencies in improving routine immunization (RI) status in the country.
06. To collaborate with other IAP Chapters/groups/national agencies gathering data on important vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) .
07. To help national agencies/institutions to gather data on vaccine safety and AEFI.
08. To Counteract any misinformation compagin against vaccines/vaccination programmes through itd various avenues like publications/websites/media interviews etc.