The Supreme Court has issued an interim order asking the government to immediately provide the second dose of Covishield vaccine to senior citizens above 65 years who have already received the first dose.
A single bench of Justice Ishwor Khatiwada issued the interim order mentioning that it had already been late to administer the second dose of Covishield vaccine to those senior citizens who had received the first dose from March 7 till 16.
The World Health Organisation has recommended that the second dose of the Covishield vaccine needs to be administered between 8 to 12 weeks of receiving the first dose. However, it has already been 12 weeks since the senior citizens in Nepal were administered the first dose.
A writ petition had been filed at the Supreme Court on June 21 seeking an order from the court to make the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines available for the 13.5 lakh elderly people who have been administered the first dose of Covishield.
The government had administered the Covishield vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India to senior citizens above the age of 65 from March 7 till 16. However, though the second dose had to be administered within 12 weeks of the first one the concerned senior citizens have still not been administered the second dose.
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