KATHMANDU, Jan 24: The government is launching a vaccination drive against COVID-19 from Wednesday, Jan 27.

During a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of all provinces, Minister for Health and Population, Hridayesh Tripathi said that the government is starting the first phase of the vaccination drive from 10AM Wednesday.

The vaccination drive against COVID-19 will kick off Wednesday after formal inauguration by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Minister Tripathi said.

On Thursday, a million doses of the ‘Covishield’ vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, arrived in Nepal under a grant assistance of India. The vaccine is jointly developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca – a British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company.

In the first phase of the vaccination drive, frontline workers fighting the pandemic will get shots of ‘Covishied’. The vaccine received by Nepal will be administered to about 500,000 frontline workers, according to the health ministry.

Those receiving vaccines in the first phase include health and sanitation workers, ambulance drivers, hospital staffers, and those managing dead bodies.

In the meantime, the government is also preparing to procure additional COVID-19 vaccines from India. 

 
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