Nepalese Minister of Health Hridayesh Tripathi said on Monday the country plans to purchase an additional 2 million doses of vaccine from India ahead of its second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign from March 7 for people aged over 55.
According to officials from the Ministry of Health, around 14,000 vaccinators, including mobile teams, will be mobilized to vaccinate most of the population. Everyone in that age group was put in the second priority group, they added.
Speaking to media on Sunday, Tripathi said people’s confidence in vaccines was increasing and the priority rule was being strictly adhered to when it came to vaccinations.
“I am eligible to receive a vaccine on March 7 under the priority rule. There is no rule to vaccinate important people first. The government will not carry out the vaccination in an anarchic manner,” he said. -he declares.
The Nepalese government has already acquired one million dozen of Covishield vaccine from India.
Likewise, China has also offered to donate 500,000 dozen vaccines to Nepal.
During the first phase of the vaccination campaign which ran from January 27 to February 6, the government administered vaccines to frontline workers, including health and safety personnel.
Minister Tripathi said it was “an important achievement for Nepal to vaccinate the priority group of people and create the second priority group at a time when more than 100 countries around the world still do not have access to vaccines. “.
Adding that the second phase of vaccination would be carried out by the health facilities, the secretary of the Ministry of Health, Laxman Aryal, said: “The provincial governments and local levels will undertake the vaccination campaign and the mobile teams will even reach the threshold. “.
In January, India handed over one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to Nepal as part of aid in the form of donations in line with its “Neighborhood First” policy. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over the vaccine package to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during a ceremony at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar.
Nepal conditionally approved the use of the Covishield vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in January.
The approval coincided with the sixth meeting of the India-Nepal Joint Commission in New Delhi, which was attended by Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.
(With PTI entries)
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