Over 156,000 children in Lalitpur to be vaccinated against measles-rubella

KATHMANDU: A total of 156,762 children in Lalitpur district are targeted to receive vaccine against measles-rubella under the nationwide Measles-Rubella (MR) Vaccination Campaign that kicked off since last Sunday.

According to Parthamani Neupane, Immunization Officer at the District Health Office, Lalitpur, initially children in six local government units of the district will be administered vaccines against highly contagious and airborne diseases from 622 vaccination centres.

The campaign, however, will be launched in Konjyosom and Mahakal Rural Municipalities in the district from February 27, shared Neupane.

He informed that 159 health workers and 822 volunteers will be mobilized to make the campaign a success.

The campaign will be launched within all 29 wards of the LMC till March 6.

Over 92,000 children in LMC to be vaccinated

Meanwhile, the Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) has a total of 92,300 children to receive vaccine against measles-rubella. Around 58.88 per cent of the total number of the children within the district have been registered for the vaccine.

Sarita Maharjan, Chief of Public Health Section at LMC, shared that 212 vaccine centres have been set up within the metropolis to vaccinate children from 9 months to 15 years.

The government of Nepal had set a target to reduce measles-rubella cases to zero by 2023.

Failing to meet the target within the primary deadline, the government has extended the timeline up to 2026, said Immunization Officer Neupane.