The vaccination program is to be affected this year due to the adjustment of health employees. The adjustment process has put an end to job quotas created in 2048 BS for vaccination program.
With this, confusions have prevailed how the immunization drive of national priorities would go ahead.
Lately, the vaccination section under the Child Health Division was scrapped. Trained and experienced immunization supervisors were transferred. Health workers complained that transfer of such trained human resources is affecting the entire vaccination drive. Prior to this, there were quotas for immunization supervisor and officer to implement the program.
Under the adjustment process, such experienced employees were transferred to somewhere else and it will take a long time to train fresh employees which will likely to affect the program, said immunization supervisor Om Upadhyaya Nepal.
The job of immunization supervisor is to facilitate in the achievement of vaccines from the international area, their safe storage, distribution and the keeping of their records. Presently, the Ministry of Health and Population provides 11 sorts of vaccines to children while vaccination facility is available for pregnant as well. Every year in Nepal, some 700,000 children below one year of age are immunized. The systematic vaccination program is in the annual calendar of the government since 2035 BS.
The deaths from measles, pneumonia and Japanese Encephalitis have significantly gone down in the aftermath of the regular vaccination program while the issue of tetanus among new mothers and babies has been eliminated. The cases of whopping cough are significantly low, it is said.
Nepal conducts the vaccination program under the format of the Vaccination Management Mechanism developed and implemented by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
