1.5 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines provided by US arrive

Kathmandu: The 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines provided by the US government under the COVAX facility have arrived in Nepal. An aircraft carrying Johnson & Johnson vaccines landed at Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday morning.

During a brief ceremony at the airport, US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry handed over the vaccines to Health Minister Krishna Gopal Shrestha.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador Berry said the ‘gift’ from the American people has a singular goal of saving lives.

“I’m proud that the U.S. is the largest single-country donor of #Covid-19 assistance to Nepal. This gift, on behalf of the American people, has the singular goal of saving lives,” Ambassador Berry said in a tweet.

Today we're giving Nepal enough #JNJ COVID19 vaccines via #COVAX to fully vaccinate 1.5 million people. I’m proud that the U.S. is the largest single-country donor of #COVID19 assistance to Nepal. This gift, on behalf of the American people, has the singular goal of saving lives. pic.twitter.com/n2wA09q20W

— Ambassador Randy Berry (@USAmbNepal) July 12, 2021

While other vaccines should be administered in two doses, Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines are one-dose vaccines and also work well against delta variant. Earlier, the government had tried to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturer.

Earlier on Friday, an aircraft of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) had airlifted 800,000 Vero Cell vaccines purchased by Nepal from China.