Swine flu vaccine supply put on hold
Useful Links
» A new way to read online, exact replica of your daily and magazine
» For all you tweety fans out there!
» Allows you to find only those news from any date you choose!
» Search any news/ articles by author/ category/ date/ keyword
KATHMANDU, MAR 24 - The government has postponed the much-hyped swine flu vaccine supply to the country until next winter. The reason -- the AH1N1 virus doesn’t spread during summer.
The government had first pledged to bring the vaccines in the first week of January and later in February and then in March. But health officials on Monday said that the country will now get the vaccines only at the end of this year, before the advent of winter.
“We have already corresponded with World Health Organisation (WHO) to hold the supply of vaccines till the next winter,” said Dr. Yashovardhan Pradhan, Director General of Department of Health and Services, under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP). “This deadly flu has stabilised across the country at present.”
WHO, which has been providing the vaccine to 95 countries, had pledged to supply 550,000 vaccines to Nepal.
According to MoHP data, the flu has so far caused the death of three women and affected 172 people in the country. The first cases of the flu were confirmed in three Non-Resident Nepalis of a family who arrived in Kathmandu from the United States via Qatar last June. On December 29, Nepal had reported its first swine flu death.
“The AH1N1 virus does not generally transmit from one person to another in hot season, as it does in cold temperature,” said Dr. G.D. Thakur, Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, under MoHP.
Though this virus originated from pigs, it is transmitted from human to human, while coughing or sneezing.
WHO handed over hospital equipment worth 23.96 million (US $ 331,000) to the isolation department for treating swine flu infected patients. Dr. Pradhan said the equipment will be distributed to five regional hospitals across the country.
Posted on: 2010-03-24 09:02
Post Your Comment