Essential vaccines are running out in Nepal. It’s time to act

Critical shortages of basic vaccines and acute therapies during peak disease seasons highlight urgency of the matter.

A state’s primary duty is to preserve its citizens’ lives and well-being. Yet, in Nepal, a persistent shortage of life-saving medical supplies and essential vaccines across public health facilities routinely exposes a systemic crisis that goes beyond simple administrative delay. In state-run oncology departments, vital platinum-based chemotherapy drugs—specifically carboplatin, cisplatin and oxaliplatin—have been unavailable for months because rigid government-imposed price caps prevent importers from recovering rising raw material costs. Consequently, families are forced to navigate unregulated pharmacies, paying up to Rs15,000 for a single vial of carboplatin that normally costs approximately Rs1,300. This market dysfunction is mirrored in the critical scarcity of basic immunisations and acute therapies. Anti-snake venom has run out in provincial storehouses during the peak snakebite season, directly contributing to preventable deaths. Meanwhile, shortages of basic anti-rabies vaccines and maternal iron-folic acid supplements continue to place vulnerable rural communities and pregnant women at severe risk.