KATHMANDU: Nepal has turned to South Korea for import of Penta Vaccines, following a WHO ban of the same last month. The vaccines are used to prevent five diseases — Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (whooping cough), and Hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza — in newly borns and infants below 12 months.

The first batch of paediatric vaccines — 131,100 vials of Quinvaxem — is expected to arrive on April 12, according to the Child Health Division at the Ministry of Health. The government will resume immunisation drive as soon as the despatches arrive, head of the immunisation programme Krishna Bahadur Chand said today.

Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis are all life-threatening diseases caused by bacterial infection. Hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza are infectious diseases caused by viral infection.

Immunisation remains temporarily suspended across the country since March 20 after the WHO

recommended replacing vaccines manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company, Shamantha Biotech, in response to complaints from different countries, including Nepal.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation has recommended importing vaccines manufactured by the Korean Crucell

Berna company. Nepal had sent the samples to WHO for laboratory tests as the vaccine particles did not fully dissolve in water.

“The department has yet to receive the WHO report,” Chand told The Himalayan Times. “WHO has sought a few more weeks to confirm the faults,” he added.