Delay in swine flu vaccine supply
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KATHMANDU, FEB 14 - With the government pledge to bring in swine flu vaccines in the first week of February proving hollow, health officials indicated on Saturday that the country will have to wait longer to get the vaccines.
National programme officer of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Nirmal Kandel told the Post that a sluggish production process of drug companies was to blame for the delay in vaccine supply.
The WHO, which has been providing the vaccines to 95 countries on priority basis, does not have adequate stock for Nepal, due to slow a production process, according to Dr. Kandel. He said the vaccines will arrive in Nepal by March.
The WHO had pledged to supply 550,000 vaccines in February.
Coordinator of the Avian Influenza Control Programme under the Ministry of Health Dr. Shyam Sundar Misra said that vaccines can wait since swine flu is not a threat for now.
Since H5N1 virus, which causes the flu, has mutated time and time again, the vaccine may not be required in the future, he argued.
Posted on: 2010-02-14 12:37
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