KATHMANDU, Feb 19: A total of 1.41 million girls throughout the country have been vaccinated under the HPV campaign that lasted till February 18, according to Family Welfare Division.
According to the vaccination division, 90 percent of the target number has been vaccinated. “Reports are yet to come from remote centers, this is a preliminary report,” said Dr Abhiyan Gautam, Chief of the Child Health and Immunization Division.
According to Gautam, some of the campaign participants had already been vaccinated during last year's vaccination campaign, some had been vaccinated through the private sector, and some missed it due to lack of information. Some girls from the elite class said they would get vaccinated later and requested for the vaccination to be arranged for them afterward, Dr Gautam said.
Nearly 600,000 girls receive HPV vaccine in first 3 days
Dr Gautam said that due to the negative publicity spread on social media about the HPV vaccine, some groups were not able to get the vaccine immediately but said they would get it later.
He said that there is a program to track down and vaccinate teenage girls who missed the vaccination during this period from February 19. According to him, since vaccination centers in some districts started two days late, arrangements have been made to vaccinate the teenage girls who missed the vaccination.
Dr Gautam has requested that the HPV vaccine be given to the unvaccinated girls as it is safe and works against cervical cancer, which is a risk later on. He said that some adolescents might not have gotten vaccinated on time due to negative rumors, so the vaccination program will track and ensure that they receive the vaccine. He said that despite the false rumors spread about the HPV vaccine, the vaccination program has been successful.
Such rumors had previously circulated in Nepal during the TT vaccination campaign and in Japan in 2009 regarding the HPV vaccine. Japan had suspended the campaign due to the rumors.
However, Nepal has managed to overcome such difficulties, he said. He believes that the positive role of the division and national-level media has prevented negative misconceptions from spreading.
