Nepal’s rabies vaccine crisis puts lives on the line

It’s the state’s duty to ensure that critical vaccines are always available at public health facilities.

Visit a state-run health facility in your district for the rabies vaccine, and health workers are likely to turn you away, saying they have run out of it. Come to Kathmandu’s Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Hospital, Nepal’s primary referral centre for rabies treatment, and even this facility is short of vaccines. As the hospital gets more than 500 people daily seeking rabies vaccination, what little remains in vaccine stock is expected to be exhausted within days. In a country where more than 60,000 people get anti-rabies jabs at government health facilities and over 100 die of rabies annually, the current vaccine shortage could soon result in a public health emergency.