Covid-19 worsens Nepal’s already problematic child immunisation status

Covid-19 has made things difficult for children. They have been forced to stay indoors, miss school and have had to sacrifice a lot. But what people have failed to realise is they have also not been getting the vaccines given to children for diseases other than Covid-19.

As Nepal has stepped up the vaccination drive against Covid-19, things seem different when it comes to children. The coverage rate of vaccines given to protect them from tuberculosis, diphtheria, hepatitis, polio and measles has gone down since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020 while the rates were already problematic before that, say experts.