KATHMANDU, Jan 18: Nepal is likely to get COVAX vaccine against COVID-19 after four months at the earliest.
COVAX – an alliance convened by GABI and WHO for equitable supply of COVID-19 vaccine – writing a letter to the Ministry Of Health and Population (MoHP) stated that Nepal will get COVAX vaccines by month of May/June in 2021, according to Dr Shyam Raj Upretry at MoHP.
Nepal receives first batch of COVAX vaccine against COVID-19
COVAX has committed to provide vaccines for around 20 percent of the population of Nepal in two phases.
Meanwhile, with the delay in the COVAX vaccines, the government gave conditional approval for emergency of AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD vaccine against the coronavirus, on Friday.
COVAX plans to purchase and supply as many as 2 Billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to participating nations by 2021. However, the vaccine manufacturing companies have been unable to meet the demand that is causing delay in supplies, said a health official at MoHP.
Under the COVAX vaccine delivery concept, the government is planning to vaccinate three percent of the population involved in the health care and social sector in the first phase, followed by 17 percent including elderly and high risk people in the second phase. Then only the vaccines will be available for the general public.
