DHANGADI, JANUARY 17

Booster dose campaign against coronavirus has been affected due to lack of vaccines in Sudurpaschim.

Additional vaccines have yet to reach the province.

Rajendra Awasti at Health Supply Management Centre said the vaccines had not reached the province even after the provincial government's frequent requests. 'We have demanded additional doses of vaccine, but the federal government has not dispatched any,' he added.

Awasti said booster dose had become more important as cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 had started increasing.

Health workers have also advised people to take the booster dose.

Earlier, many people in Sudurpaschim did not receive both the doses of the vaccine.

Seti Provincial Hospital Physician Dr Sher Bahadur Kamar said COVID cases were increasing as there were still a large number of people in the province who were not vaccinated yet.

'People have to take the vaccine to protect themselves from severe illness,' he added.

The risk of virus spread at the community level has increased with the return of many Nepali workers from India.

Kamar said initiative had been taken to make the vaccines available and protect people from the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson for Social Development Ministry Narendra Singh Karki said that the booster dose campaign had started in the province from yesterday.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.