By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, May 13: The government's COVID-19 vaccination drive, which has been halted due to the second wave of the pandemic and subsequent prohibitory orders in various parts of the nation, is now set to be resumed.
Dr. Jhalak Sharma Gautam, chief of the national immunisation programme, said, "The vaccination of the second dose of Vero Cell, provided by China, will begin from May 16. Also, we will start administering the second dose of Covishield soon."
Stating that of the total people vaccinated until now, only 500,000 had received the second dose, Dr. Gautam informed that the remaining stock of Covishield would be sent to all 77 districts on a priority basis for the second round of vaccination.
The government had introduced the vaccination drive with Covishield vaccine, which was received under grant assistance from India, in all seven provinces from January 28. The frontline health workers had received the jab in the nation's first-ever vaccination campaign against the pandemic.
As the inoculation centres were being overcrowded while the virus was spreading rapidly, the government had postponed the vaccination campaign on April 28.
The campaign, which aims to vaccinate 288,000 people who have already received the first jab of Vero Cell, is now resuming from May 16.
The government had begun administering Vero Cell in seven districts, including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk and Kavrepalanchowk.  
China had provided 800,000 doses of Vero Cell, which recently received approval from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use, under grant assistance.
Dr. Gautam said that preparations were being made to increase the number of vaccination centres and employ local representatives and volunteers to avoid crowding during the campaign.