By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept.20: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is administering the vaccines against COVID-19 across the nation from Monday after the government received 4.4 million doses of Vero Cell vaccines from China on Friday.
The vaccines will be rolled out from Monday, said Dr. Sagar Dahal, Chief of the National Immunisation Programme.
Vaccines have already been dispatched from the capital to the provinces, said Dahal.
The government is launching the new round of vaccination campaigns in the districts including Taplejung, Solukhumbu, Rasuwa, Sankhuwasabha, Mugu, Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Bajura and Darchula for all people aged above 18 years.
Similarly, in Kavre and Chitwan districts, the vaccines will be administered to the people aged above 35 years.
The vaccination campaign prioritises people aged above 40 years in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Makawanpur, Ramechhap, Sarlahi and Achham districts. Similarly, in other districts, people aged above 55 years will be administered the Vero Cell vaccines.
The campaign will also allow those who missed earlier vaccination campaigns among frontline and emergency service workers, teachers and students, and tourism workers. The vaccination campaign will be conducted from September 20-30.
Nepal received 4.4 million doses of Vero Cell vaccine from China’s Sinopharm on Friday. It was a consignment of the 6 million doses the government purchased.
So far, the government has bought 10 million doses of Vero Cell vaccine from China, under a non-disclosure agreement.
Meanwhile, according to the MoHP, 6,203,316 people have taken their first dose of vaccine and 5,578,865 people have been fully vaccinated, so far. The government has planned to inoculate 33 per cent of population by mid-October.
As per the update of MoHP, in total, 21,360 doses of vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours.