Covishield Vaccine reaching all seven provinces today 

KATHMANDU: The Covishield vaccine against coronavirus provided as a grant by the Indian government is reaching all seven provinces of the country on Sunday.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Dr. Jageshwar Gautam said that the vaccine has been dispatched since Saturday, and that the vaccine will be delivered to the storage centres of all provinces today.

The vaccine, which was brought via air from India on Thursday, was directly taken to the Central Moisture Center of the Department of Health Services in Teku from Tribhuvan International Airport. According to Spokesperson Gautam, the vaccine sent to the provinces will be distributed to all 77 district hospitals based on their requirements.

In the first phase, the hospital itself will be made the vaccination centre. The government is preparing to vaccinate from about 300 hospitals in the seven states and 77 districts. Vaccines will be distributed in more than 10 hospitals in Kathmandu Valley.

The vaccine will be given to frontline health workers, support staff, ambulance and hearse drivers, security personnel managing dead bodies of the infected, waste management and sanitation workers working at the local level. The ministry has stated that the second dose will be given one month or four weeks after the first dose. According to Dr. Gautam, all of these frontline workers will be vaccinated within a week. 

The Government of India has provided one million doses of vaccine to Nepal. The Covishield vaccine, which can be stored at -2 degrees Celsius to -8 degrees Celsius, is found to be 70 per cent effective in India.

The government plans to vaccinate 72 per cent of the total population against COVID-19. After the first phase of vaccination, the government is preparing to bring 20 per cent free vaccination for the second phase under a plant called ‘Covax Facility’.

Apart from the vaccine coming through Covax reaching 20 per cent of the population, the government will bring the remaining 52 per cent of the vaccine from the diplomatic mission as per the government-to-government (GTG), public procurement regulations and through contracts.