The management division of the Department of Health Services has formed a three-member expert team to oversee the disposal of four million doses of the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine that expired in December 2023.

Officials say that the team was formed after a Kathmandu-based private company agreed to destroy the expired vaccine doses using its incinerator.

“We have sent the file to the Ministry of Health and Population for consent to destroy the expired vaccine doses,” said Dr Pawan Jung Rayamajhi, director of the division. “Once we receive the go-ahead, the expired vaccine doses will be disposed of safely.”

The vaccine doses were supplied by the Chinese government in March 2022 under grant assistance. The government had sent planes specifically to bring the vaccines from China. Since the doses had a shelf life of two years, the health authorities prioritised the use of other Covid vaccines with shorter expiry dates.

Later, the COVAX facility, the United Nations-backed international vaccine-sharing scheme, supplied sufficient doses of Covid vaccines, so the country did not need to use Sinovac-CoronaVac jabs.

Besides this, health authorities did not administer the Sinovac-CoronaVac doses because the National Immunisation Advisory Committee did not approve the use of Sinovac-CoronaVac as booster doses. As a result, the vaccine doses expired in December 2023.

Following the expiry, health ministry officials consulted experts from the World Health Organisation, Nepal-based vaccine experts, and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee to determine cost-effective and safe disposal methods.

Experts recommended destroying the vaccine doses at high temperatures in cement factories, brick kilns or through chemical treatment and boiling. But cement factories and brick kilns refused to incinerate the vaccines in their furnaces, citing safety concerns.

“A private company in Kathmandu which operates an incinerator has now agreed to destroy the vaccine doses,” Rayamajhi said.

The expert panel overseeing the disposal includes representatives from the Office of the Auditor General, a pharmacy expert from the health ministry, and an official from the Immunisation Section at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services.

Nepal has used coronavirus vaccines manufactured in China, India, Japan, several European countries, and the United States, including brands such as AstraZeneca, Vero Cell, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Over 12,000 people died, and hundreds of thousands were infected in the first, second and third waves of the Covid pandemic in Nepal.

Though flu cases have shot up in recent months, Covid cases have not increased, according to health ministry officials.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Immunisation Section said that 14,50,000 girls between 11 and 14 from across the country have been inoculated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine so far.

Human papillomavirus is a viral infection that spreads through skin-to-skin contact and is a leading cause of cervical cancer—the second-most common cancer in the developing world. Cervical cancer is a major cause of death among Nepali women, with hundreds diagnosed every year.

The health ministry launched a nationwide HPV vaccination drive on February 4, targeting girls between 11 and 14 years of age, which continued until February 18.

The campaign is ongoing in Manang and Mustang, districts and health authorities have planned a campaign in Dolpa and Humla in May only.

The government aimed to jab a total of 1,688,768 girls in the age group with a single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine during the campaign.

The Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) has supplied 1,770,400 vaccine doses for the campaign. Officials say the alliance has also provided funds to cover the campaign’s operational costs.

The government has decided to include the HPV vaccine in the routine immunisation list following the completion of the nationwide drive.

The World Health Organisation says HPV vaccination is recommended as part of a coordinated strategy to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases caused by the virus.