Kathmandu: The first consignment of the Japan-donated AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines has arrived in Nepal. An aircraft of Qatar Airways landed at Tribhuvan International Airport carrying 513,420 vaccines on Saturday morning. A total of 300,000 doses will arrive tomorrow.
Japanese Ambassador of Japan to Nepal KIKUTA Yutaka handed over the vaccines to Minister of State for Health and Population Umesh Shrestha amidst a brief ceremony held at the airport.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the remaining doses out of pledged 1.6 million doses by Japan through the COVAX facility will be delivered next week. Earlier on Friday, Nepal had received 300,000 vaccines from Bhutan.
The vaccines will be administered to elderly people who already had the first vaccination of Covishield, the AstraZeneca-type vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India. Nearly, 1.4 million elderly people were deprived of getting the second dose of Covishield vaccines after India refused to send a million doses of vaccines, which Nepal had already paid for.
Chief of Child Health and Immunization Section under Family Welfare Division Dr Jhalak Sharma Gautam said the second dose to elderly people who had received first dose of Covishield will begin on Monday.
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