Kathmandu, March 18 -- Over 200,000 girls between 11 and 14 years of age, who are eligible to get inoculated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine during the nationwide campaign, did not show up for inoculation.

Officials say that only around 1.45 million girls of the said age group have been inoculated so far with the vaccine in the campaign launched in February while the target number was 1.68 million.

The figure of the eligible population was not only a projection prepared for the campaign, but was based on a real figure calculated by taking the exact number of girls enrolled in schools, according to officials.

They concede that coverage of the vaccination is low in districts of the Madhesh province and in big cities including in ...