Though haphazard destruction of vaccines can severely compromise public health and can have negative impact on the environment, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is all set to destroy them in a cement factory in Arghakhanchi district. [break]
Following a directive from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010, the Department of Health Services (DoHS), which is under the MoHP, suspended the vaccines pentavalent (DPT-HepB-Hib) meant for infants to increase their immunity against diseases like Diphtheria, Pertusis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza. The WHO globally suspended the pentavalent vaccines manufactured by Santa Biotechs, an Indian pharmaceutical company, in March 12, 2010. About 24 million doses of pentavalent vaccines were recalled globally, including 1.4 million doses from Nepal.
As per the rules, the manufacturing company must take back its vaccines if they are found to be defective. But Santa Biotechs had shut down its operations after the vaccines were declared substandard.
The Logistic Management Division (LMD) of DHS said that it has collected all the substandard vaccines from its regional offices and kept them at the center.
"A team comprising of representatives from DoHS, LMD, UNICEF, WHO and MoHP inspected the chimney at the Hetauda based cement factory," said Dr Bikas Lamichhane, the chief of the LMD.
Bode Bahadur Thapa, an officer at the LMD, however, said, “The factory does not meet WHO standard, so it is not suitable place for destroying vaccines.
” He, nonetheless, admitted that substandard vaccines kept unused for long time can pose risk to public health. If the bottle in which vaccines are stored break, the virus used in making the vaccines can spread in the environment. The LMD, on the other hand, said that it has been facing difficulties in storing new vaccines as the defective ones have taken up a lot of space.
Meanwhile, the inspection team has also visited chimneys of various brick and cement factories in Tarai districts. Dr Lamichhane claimed that the vaccines are destroyed at above 1200 degree temperature and therefore the possibility of virus spread is almost zero.
He revealed that the vaccines will most likely be destroyed at the cement factory in Arghakhanchi district which, according to him, has the required facilities. The LMD said that the government will get replacement vaccines immediately after the substandard vaccines are destroyed.
The pentavalent vaccines were delivered in Nepal by the UNICEF after it received it from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVA).
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