After several months of increasingly frustrating results, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc throughout the world, with over 3.5 million confirmed cases and around 250,000 deaths attributed to SARS-CoV-2 to date. Although social distancing measures have surely helped in keeping the number of infections at any given time to a much lower level than without any measures in place, a successful regimen to cure the disease remains elusive. Indeed, governments, non-governmental organisations as well as private sector players have all staked billions of dollars and attempted unprecedented coordination to get a working vaccine produced and accessible in record time.

Most developed governments also understand the importance of sharing such a vaccine with developing countries, as only mass immunisation will keep a deadly, infectious and incurable disease in check. In fact, a global alliance of leaders, sans the United States and China, met on May 4 to finalise the details and funding to ensure expedited trials and equitable and timely access of a novel coronavirus vaccine to the entire world. This hastened summit came on the heels of another urgent one on April 24 that introduced this concept in the first place. Such is the effect of one infectious disease. Yet, even as the efforts against Covid-19 ramp up, Nepal, and many other countries like it, faces a shortage of vaccines to ensure continued immunisation against older deadly diseases.

It has come to light that Nepal faces a diminishing supply of crucial vaccines, as supply chains have been affected by the lockdown in many countries. Already, Nepal has not received vital shipments of Japanese encephalitis and inactivated polio vaccines that were due to arrive in April. Similarly, there are concerns that a consignment of the diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine due to arrive sometime in May could also be disrupted due to shipment blockages. Some hospitals have also reported difficulty in accessing the latest batch of flu vaccines to give to vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women. This is extremely worrying.

The World Health Organisation estimates that the use of vaccines contributed to preventing ‘at least 10 million deaths’, in addition to preventing illnesses in many millions more, between 2010 and 2015. When available, vaccines truly become a crutch healthcare systems rely on to minimise the number of infected. Moreover, as with Covid-19, many diseases do not have easily found cures; the only preventable measure between mass death and debilitation—that cause major socioeconomic shocks—is the use of mass immunisation programmes. This becomes especially true for countries like Nepal, with weak healthcare systems.

For example, the government’s lack of implementation of a rotavirus vaccine played a major part in the continued cases of diarrhoeal infections in children under five. And, the lack of proper immunisation, diagnostic and treatment facilities in places like Bajura means that people there continue to succumb to the flu. Perhaps worse of all, potentially faulty reporting of immunisation records meant that Nepal is now suffering through an outbreak of measles, which has already killed two in a purportedly measles-free zone.

The above examples show how weak Nepal’s healthcare and immunisation systems are in the best of times. With a disruption in vaccine imports, Nepal may soon witness an unprecedented disease emergency. Covid-19 would then be the least of Nepal’s concerns. It is therefore imperative that the government reaches out to all stakeholders to clear the supply chain blockages as a matter of urgency. Vaccine producing countries that have blocked shipments must be made to understand that without mass immunisation, an outbreak that begins in Nepal can very well reach within their borders in no time.

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