INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, MARCH 18The World Health Organisation's warning that the COVID pandemic is far from over has little effect
on the Nepal government, which has done precious little to ramp up its vaccination drive, letting complacency set in as the number of
intra-day cases have been on a decline of late.
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WHO's warning means that all countries, including Nepal, should not let their guard
down against the COVID pandemic.
But the government does not seem to be taking seriously the risk of the pandemic surge and
has not accelerated its efforts to provide second and booster doses to the targeted population
While other countries have already started providing COVID vaccines to children in the 5-11-year age group, the government has made no
preparation to do so.Although the Ministry of Health and Population says it has enough COVID vaccines in the storage, the number of people
receiving booster shots remains low at 1,829,520
The government had set a target of fully vaccinating 19,922,164 people above 18 years of age by mid-April
Given the slow pace at which the government is carrying its vaccination drive, it may not meet the target of vaccinating all population by
mid-April.As of today, nearly 19 per cent of the targeted population has not received both doses of COVID vaccines
The government has set a target of vaccinating 3,405,455 children in the 12-17 age group
In this age group, 2,311,998 people (67 per cent) have received both the doses of vaccine and nine per cent have yet to receive the first
dose of COVID vaccines.Infectious disease expert Anup Subedee said government authorities were under false impression that the new wave of
the COVID pandemic would be less lethal
"Many people are dying of COVID in Hong Kong
We should not think that the new surge will not be lethal," he said
He added that Nepali population would be at risk because most of them had received Vero Cell vaccines which were not as effective as other
vaccines.Even the efficacy of most effective vaccines starts decreasing after six to seven months• Infectious disease expert Anup
Subedee"Even the efficacy of most effective vaccines starts decreasing after six-seven months," Subedee added.He said the government
authorities had talked of strengthening public health system by adding infrastructure, including by building holding centres at border entry
points, but they had paused their efforts.He said the risk of old and new COVID variant would always remain and the government should always
increase its preparedness against any future surge in infections.Another infectious disease expert Baburam Marasini said that at least
double doses should be administered to 95 per cent of the targeted population -- 18-plus, as well as children aged 5-11
"Failure to fully vaccinate children in the 5-11 age group can spread COVID among the elderly and those with compromised immunity," Marasini
added.He said that the government had not taken seriously the risk of a possible surge in COV- ID infections.Failure to fully vaccinate
children in the 5-11 age group can spread COVID among the elderly and those with compromised immunity• Infectious disease expert Baburam
MarasiniInfectious disease expert Sher Bahadur Pun said that the risk of a new variant would always be there, but probably it would not get
as bad as during the first and second waves."This does not mean that the government becomes complacent," he added.Pun said that other
countries had already started vaccinating children above five years of age, but in Nepal the government had not started vaccinating
them.According to the Ministry of Health and Population data, out of 47,882,800 vaccination doses that the country has received, 39,223,941
doses have been administered.Assistant Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Samir Kumar Adhikari said that since the peak
of third wave of the COV- ID pandemic ended recently, another wave would not hit Nepal anytime soon
"The government has continuously cautioned the public about the risk of another surge in COVID infections
We need to increase our vigilance," he said
He added that the government relaxed some measures because those provisions were necessary for economic recovery.Adhikari said the
government was not able to meet the target of booster dose mainly because people were not keen on booster doses
"Often people try to seek booster dose only when there is a surge in infections," he said, adding, "We will have to run campaigns to
convince people about the need for receiving booster shots."India has asked provincial governments to resume the process of monitoring
symptoms related to COVID as countries in southeast Asia and Europe have been reporting increase in cases of coronavirus infection.Reuters
reported yesterday that new infections jumped by eight per cent globally compared to the previous week, with 11 million new cases and just
over 43,000 new deaths reported from March 7-13.A version of this article appears in the print on March 19, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com