Nearly one million children deprived of vaccine campaign in Nepal: Report

In Nepal, almost one million children have not yet received even a single dose of the Covid vaccine, reported the Kathmandu Post citing the country's Ministry of Health and Population. According to the ministry, there would be approximately one million children above five years old have been deprived of Covid vaccination campaigns. The issue has been addressed by the chief of the Immunisation Section at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services.  

While addressing the issue at a press conference, Abhiyan Gautam, chief of the Immunisation Section at the Family Welfare Division, said: "Hundreds of thousands of children throughout the country, who were below five years of age and were not covered by the Covid vaccination campaigns have now become eligible for the vaccine". Further, he added: "We have started preparations to bring pediatric doses of the vaccine for children of the said age group." However, according to local news reports,  children between 5 and 11 years have been jabbed with pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine after the Covax facility. The  Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine has been backed by the  United Nations (UN). They have delivered roundabout 8.4 million doses last year, as per The Kathmandu Post report. 

Nepal's children deprived of vaccines

Due to the failed health faculties in Nepal, thousands of vaccine doses have expired. However, tens of thousands of children, who are now five years old, remain unvaccinated because the vaccination campaign stopped, reported The Kathmandu Post. While sharing concerns about the rise in new cases of the coronavirus, Dr Anup Subedee, an infectious disease expert, said: "The good thing is most schools are currently closed for year-end vacation". On Sunday, the country recorded 38 new cases of Covid, 37 from 185 polymerase chain reaction tests and one from 516 antigen tests, as per the Local News report. According to the recent data available, the positivity rate of PCR tests is 20 per cent. The number was 142 on Friday.