By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 10: The second dose of vaccine for citizens aged above 65 years with AstraZeneca vaccine has started from Monday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), initially the campaign will be conducted at vaccination sites in Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces followed by Provinces 1 and 2.
The MoHP has requested all to follow the health safety standards at the vaccination sites.

Earlier, the elderlies were inoculated with Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India over March 7-23.
The senior citizens have been waiting for their second dose for more than four months as India failed to supply the purchased vaccine. The government had earlier decided to provide AstraZeneca in place of Covishield vaccine with having same composition and formula except for their brand name.

The vaccine is being administered from 149 vaccination centres in the capital. Dr. Jhalak Sharma Gautam, chief of the National Immunisation Programme, said that enough doses of the vaccine for the targeted group have already been secured.
This time, we target to administer 1.4 million doses of vaccines and the remaining AstraZeneca vaccines will be provided to patients with kidney failure, dialysis, organ transplants, cancer patient, and people travelling abroad, informed Dr. Gautam.

According to Health Office, Kathmandu, a total of 17 vaccination centres are allocated in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, ten in Kirtipur Municipality, 15 in Chandragiri Municipality, ten in Nagarjuna Municipality, 11 in Tarkeshwor Municipality, nine in Dakshinkali Municipality, 13 in Budhanilkantha Municipality, 11 in Tokha Municipality, nine in Gokarneshwor Municipality and nine in Kageshwori Manohara Municipality.
The inoculation drive is also being conducted at Radhaswami Isolation Center, Balaju, Armed Police Force Hospital, Balambu, Bir Hospital, T.U. Teaching Hospital, Civil Service Hospital, and Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital, Thapathali, Kathmandu.

According to the MoHP, 145,030 people were vaccinated in the past 24 hours. The total number of people who have been vaccinated in Nepal with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to date has reached 4,525,435. Of these, 2,606,046 have received the second dose as well.