Over 40,000 left out children administered vaccines

Over 40,000 children below five years of age who were left out on the Expanded Programme on Immunisation Campaign launched by the Ministry of Health and Population have been administered vaccines, according to the Department of Health Services.

The Ministry has been administrating various vaccinations to the children below five years of age, who need to complete the vaccination course within 15 months, said Dr Abhiyan Gautam, chief of the Child Health and Immunisation Section of the Department, adding that 40,463 left out children got administered the vaccines.

The campaign was organised on 28 April and 14 May, 2023, he said. According to him, 2,090 children, who did not receive a single dose of the vaccines that need to be administered within 15 months, got the first shot of various nine types of vaccines against 13 diseases. The number of children who missed being administered one or more doses were 38,373, he said.