Kathmandu Valley’s 50 percent population vaccinated against COVID-19

Published On: September 29, 2021 06:00 PM NPT By: Republica

KATHMANDU, Sept 29: Nearly 50 percent of the population of the Kathmandu Valley has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

As much as 50 percent of the target population in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts in the Valley has been administered both doses of the vaccines.

Chief of Child Health and Vaccination Section, Family Welfare Division at the Department of Health Services, Sagar Dahal said that 50 percent of the population in the Valley has received the first dose vaccine while 48 per cent has received the full two doses.

While 1,622,441 people have been given the first dose, 1,562,734 people have been fully vaccinated. Of the population of 3,247,558 in the Kathmandu Valley, the target is to immunize a population of 2,129,773 who are above 18 years of age.

Officer at the Immunization Section of the ministry, Bharat Bhandari shared that 51.5 per cent of the target population have got the first dose jabs while 48.7 percent of the target population the full dose in Kathmandu district.

Similarly, 49.7 per cent of the target population has been given the first dose while 45.4 percent of the target population has got the full dose in Lalitpur district. The target population in Lalitpur is 382,860 and it is 246,851 in Bhaktapur district.

This indicates that at least 50 per cent of the target population in the Valley will be inoculated by the end of the Dashain festival.

The highest number of people has been vaccinated in Bagmati Province after Kathmandu Valley. A total of 38.2 percent of the population has got the first dose of the vaccines and 35.3 percent have already received both doses of the vaccines in the province.

Bhandari shared that a directive has already been issued to the District Health Office to vaccinate the people above 35 years in the Kathmandu Valley. The government has set a target to vaccinate 33 percent of the population of the nation against COVID-19 by October 17, 2021. The government has made preparations to vaccinate two-thirds of the population within mid-January 2022 and all eligible citizens by mid-April 2022.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been saying that the government has listed the vaccination program as the top priority. District Public Health Office, Kathmandu, has been providing vaccination service against the coronavirus from 145 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district.

(With Inputs from RSS)