AFP
NOS News•
Pharmaceutical Bilthoven Biologicals is suspending the production of their polio vaccine for the time being. This is done at the insistence of the North Sea Canal Area Environment Agency.
The reason is an incident last month in which the polio virus was found in the sewers at the Utrecht Science Park in Bilthoven. That’s where the pharmaceutical company is located. An employee became infected and is in isolation, as it turned out yesterday.
According to the environmental service, there has been a pattern of incidents with the polio virus over the past five years. The service says in a statement that it is “currently insufficiently clear whether business operations and safety are in order”.
The environment service has therefore asked the pharmaceutical company to immediately halt all activities involving the polio virus. It is not clear when production will resume. An investigation must also be carried out into the causes of the incidents.
Minister Kuipers of Health has long wanted the requirements for companies that work with the polio virus to become stricter. He is therefore working on a new law, which should be ready in the first quarter of next year.
The risk of further spread is estimated by RIVM to be virtually nil, also thanks to the good sewage system in the Netherlands. Polio no longer occurs in the Netherlands, thanks to a large-scale vaccination campaign. Before the vaccinations were introduced, polio was more common.