Nepal has resumed the vaccination drive against COVID-19 today with the vaccines donated by China.
In the second phase of the ongoing vaccination drive, Nepali students (from age 18 to 59 years) studying in China; importers of Chinese goods and products; staff and representatives working at institutions including hotel, trekking agencies, advertisement field, internet service provider, drugstore; teachers and other workers in schools in Kathmandu are being inoculated with ‘Vero cell’ vaccine manufactured by China, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).
The vaccination drive was launched in January with the AstraZeneca vaccine called ‘Covishield’ manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), but had to suspend it after India cut the supply.
China also donated 800,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine called ‘Vero cell’ that was flown last month.
India had first provided Nepal with 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a grant while the latter also purchased 2 more million from the SII. However, only 1 million has already been supplied and delivery of the other half has been delayed by the Indian company.
A total of 1,791,606 people have been inoculated in the country, as of Saturday, April 3.
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