By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Mar. 7: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is being vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on Sunday to mark the commencement of second phase of vaccination drive against COVID-19 in Nepal.
The second phase of vaccination begins after the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will receive the vaccine against COVID-19 at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj at 10am on Sunday, said Minister for Health and Population, Hridayesh Tripathi.
At a press briefing organised by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Minister Tripathi said that the government has made various efforts for the availability of vaccine to all the citizens.
The vaccination drive enters the new phase from tomorrow, said Minister Tripathi and asked all to help the vaccination drive to make it successful.
“For the first ten days, we will administer citizens above 65 years of age and then will continue to administer the vaccine to people above 55 years of age,” said Minister Tripathi.
The second phase of vaccination drive is very important as most vulnerable groups are prioritised in this phase, added Minister Tripathi.
According to Dr. Jageshwar Gautam, spokesperson for the MoHP, the government plans to vaccinate as many as 1.6 million senior citizens above 65 years of age in the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
The campaign would be conducted at more than 6,000 vaccination centres and 15,000 health workers will be mobilised across the nation, said Dr. Gautam. Similarly, people above 55 will be administered the vaccine against the disease with the availability of vaccines, informed Dr. Gautam.
According to Dr. Gautam, the vaccination campaign will last for about 20 days, with the first 10 days being allocated for those above 65 years of age and the remaining 10 days for people between 55 to 64 years of age.
“We request everyone in the priority group to go to the convenient vaccine centres (health facilities) for vaccination, to protect self and others from COVID-19 infection,” said Dr. Gautam.

One million doses of Covishield were provided and brought to Nepal on January 21, under the grant assistance from the Indian government. Another one million purchased Covishield vaccines have also arrived in Nepal.
According to the MoHP, 429,705 persons have received the first dose of the vaccine, which is 1.4 per cent of the total population in the first phase of vaccination campaign.
Nepal is receiving 348,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility on Sunday.
Minister Tripathi informed that in total the vaccines under COVAX programme would suffice for 20 per cent of people in Nepal. Among the SAARC countries, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal only are receiving vaccines from COVAX.
Under the COVAX facility, Nepal is receiving the Covishield vaccine, which has been developed jointly by Oxford University and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company. The Serum Institute of India has manufactured the vaccines.