KATHMANDU, Jan 3: A total of 40,000 vaccines provided by the Chinese government as a grant to the Government of Nepal have expired without being administered due to unsuitability for use in the country.
The vaccines provided by China are not suitable for use in Nepal, and the vaccines are no longer used, according to Dr Abhiyan Gautam, chief of the Child Health and Immunization Service Section at the Family Welfare Division.
The Management Division of the Department of Health Services (DoHS) has prepared to safely dispose of those vaccines within a few days. Dr Gautam said, "We have prepared to destroy the vaccines that expired on December 23."
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Dr Gautam further clarified that the vaccines can only be utilized after receiving recommendations from the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) of experts. The committee determined that the Covid-19 vaccine from China should not be used.
The Chinese government had sent that amount of vaccine as a grant during the tenure of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. At the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the Government of Nepal requested for the vaccines, China was unable to provide it in time due to the lack of production as per the demand.
China had sent the vaccines as a grant on March 8, 2022, during the tenure of then-Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Although Nepal had requested China for the vaccine during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was delayed due to insufficient production in line with the demand. The vaccines, when arrived in Nepal, underwent evaluation by the NVAC, which concluded that it could not be used as a booster dose but could be used for the initial and second doses. However, by that time, 100 percent of the target population in Nepal had already received the first and second doses of other vaccines, and the Chinese vaccines were left unused.
Dr Gautam stated, "Since the vaccine given by China is not suitable for use in Nepal, it is not possible to easily send the vaccine back to China." The Management Division of DoHS informed the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) about the expiration, and the MoHP reached out to different countries to explore potential use. However, as no demand was received from other nations, the vaccine remained stored.
Surendra Chaurasiya, Head of the Storage Branch of the Management Division of DoHS, stated that a meeting of experts was held after the vaccine's expiration to discuss the destruction process. The vaccine will be disposed of following the recommended procedures. Chaurasiya added, "There is no need to keep it after the usage period is over, we will destroy it according to the experts' suggestion."
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