Even after 15 months have passed since the expiry of 4 million doses of covid vaccine worth one and a half billion rupees donated by China, the government has not yet been able to destroy it. The vaccine is now kept in the central vaccine store at Teku in the capital. China's Sinovac company's Verocil vaccine was brought to Nepal on Chait 12 and 14, 2078. Those vaccines expired in November and January 2080.

According to the Auditor General's Office report 2081, the price of the vaccine is 1.56 billion 68 million rupees. 19 thousand 480 'dose' of veiled vaccine brought during covid has also expired. These vaccines are also kept in Teku's vaccine store. An additional 18,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine are expiring next September. Pfizer vaccine is in the province's "cold chain" and in some big hospitals, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health said. Prakash Budhathoki says.

The government has not even started the necessary process to destroy those vaccines that have expired. The Department of Health Services is supposed to submit a report on this, but it has not been submitted yet. "Some legal procedure should be adopted to destroy vaccines and other items," says spokesperson Budhathoki, "As per the provision in Section 110 of the Financial Procedures and Financial Responsibility Regulations 2077, the office shall, in accordance with the prevailing law, establish a committee and destroy such items in public with a judgment that such items cannot be used again, if their use-by date has expired or if it is proved that they cannot be used for any other reason." In the case of central departments and other central-level offices, there is a provision to keep in the committee at least one officer-level representative designated by the Comptroller General's Office and an expert employee of a government agency who is knowledgeable about property and goods under the coordination of at least a gazetted second-class officer designated by the head of the relevant agency. But the Department of Health Services has not even formed a committee to destroy expired vaccines.  The head of the management division of the

department. Pawanjung says that preparations are being made to write to the office of the Comptroller General to form the Rayamazhi committee. "The Chemical Inspection Committee has prepared a record of the materials to be destroyed in the warehouse," he says, "There is a large amount of vaccine, and the option of destroying it is being discussed." According to the ministry, about 57 thousand vaccines have been wasted by using Verosil, Covisild, Pfizer and Mordna, which were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Auditor General's report 2081, 4.495 thousand 192 doses of BCG, DPT, Measles, Polio, JE, TD vaccines were wasted in the financial year 2079/80. The price of that vaccine is equal to 2 billion 23 billion 821 thousand rupees. 

According to the ministry, there are only a few vaccines when they reach the local level through the center and state. At the local level, the wasted vaccine is being disposed of in ditches, drains and destroyed by machines such as autoclaves in hospitals. However, a complicated situation has been created as there is a large amount of expired covid vaccines in one place and if they are destroyed indiscriminately, it can have a direct impact on the environment and public health.

According to experts, cement factories are the best place to dispose of expired vaccines. Vaccine expert Dr. According to Shyamraj Upreti, in 2009, a large amount of pentavalent vaccine used against diseases like hepatitis B and tetanus was destroyed in the cement factory because it had expired.

The now-expired Ministry of Vaccines wanted to destroy the government-owned Hetaunda Cement Industry. But the process could not be carried forward. Later, Hetaunda Cement Factory was closed in February 2079. Recently, private cement businessmen have not agreed to destroy the expired vaccines. According to the businessmen, they have come to the conclusion that the vaccine will not be destroyed due to the protests of the local residents around the factory.

2080 Sinovac company's verocele vaccine expired in November and January 4 million 'doses' 

19 thousand 480 'dose' of veiled vaccine also expired 

• 1 lakh 18 thousand 'dose' of Pfizer vaccine expires in September
• "After the burning, the locals around the factory protested, so the businessmen have decided not to destroy the vaccine," says Raghunandan Maru, president of the Nepal Cement Manufacturers Association. Confusion has been created about the destruction of expired vaccines after the private cement businessmen did not take responsibility. However, according to industrialist Pashupati Murraka, no formal proposal has been received from the Ministry of Health to destroy the vaccine. If there is a formal proposal, it can be destroyed in industries with 'secondary firing' system. The Ministry of Health should assure all stakeholders that doing so will not affect public health. If it is possible, we should help by letting it be destroyed. For that, the ministry had to clear everything," he said.
• According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, it was considered appropriate to administer the first and second doses of Verocil vaccine. "But the Verocil vaccine was late in coming to Nepal, when it arrived, most of the people had already taken the first and second doses," Dr. Budhathoki says, 'Destroying the covid vaccine is a new practice and since a large amount of it has to be destroyed at once, there has been a delay because more time has passed in studying how other countries have done it.'

According to Rayamazhi, head of the management division of the health service department, the Hetaunda cement factory is closed and the private cement businessmen are refusing to destroy it, and there is a problem. "Discussions with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant agencies found that they were destroyed through incinerators in Bangladesh and by burying them in pits in Afghanistan," he says. "There is also a discussion about destroying it," he says.