KMC to prepare detailed immunization plan

KATHMANDU, Oct 2: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is preparing a detailed immunization service plan covering government and private health institutions that provide routine vaccinations within the city.

In previous years, the metropolis prepared such plans only for vaccination programs run through its health promotion centres.

Public Health Officer and local immunization program resource person Maiyya Sainju said the metropolis will now review routine immunization services and vaccine-preventable diseases, provide information on new vaccines and diseases, promote sanitation and update its immunization micro plan.

The program has been divided into two phases. The first phase began on Tuesday with the participation of vaccinators from institutions providing immunization services within the metropolis.

The workshop aims to expand access to routine vaccination and identify children who have missed vaccines or have not completed the full vaccination schedule.

Officials will analyze data from health facilities, including vaccination coverage, dropout rates, vaccine wastage and access to services. Based on the findings, plans will be prepared from the ward to the metropolitan level.

Vaccination data for fiscal year 2025/26 show that coverage of most vaccines in Kathmandu exceeded 100 percent of the estimated target population.

According to Prabina Karmacharya, public health officer at the Kathmandu Health Office, BCG coverage stood at 318.96 percent. Coverage of the first dose of DPT HepB Hib was 132.75 percent and the third dose 133.02 percent.

Coverage of the first polio dose stood at 133.02 percent, while the first dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV, reached 132.88 percent. Coverage of the first measles rubella, or MR, dose was 114.27 percent and the second dose 110.94 percent.

Despite the unusually high coverage rates for individual vaccines, only 72.08 percent of children were recorded as fully immunized.

Officials said the discrepancy points to the need for closer analysis of target population estimates, use of vaccination services, record keeping and reporting, as well as the actual number of children completing the full vaccination schedule.

Sainju said the review would focus not only on overall coverage but also on dropout rates, the number of unvaccinated children, vaccine wastage and access to and use of immunization services.

The program will seek data-based answers to several questions, including which children have missed vaccines, why they were left out, which areas have poor access and why some children who receive the first dose fail to return for subsequent doses.