A consignment of 4.4 million doses of the Vero Cell vaccine arrived in Kathmandu today afternoon.
Chief of the National Immunisation Programme Dr Sagar Dahal confirmed the arrival of more vaccines today. "With the latest consignment, Nepal has now received all six million doses the government had earlier purchased from China in August," he informed.
"The vaccines will be administered to everyone over the age of 18 in 10 hilly districts," he said, adding that the government plans to inoculate all eligible candidates in the hilly districts at the same time since transporting the vaccines time and again is a challenge due to geographical remoteness.
The government has also instructed to provide vaccines to those above 18 years of age in Manang, Mustang and East Rukum.
Nepal has purchased a total of 10 million doses of the Vero Cell or BBIBP-CorV vaccine developed by the Chinese state-affiliated pharmaceutical giant, Sinopharm.
Four million doses of the vaccine were purchased in June under a non-disclosure agreement and a new deal was reached to purchase additional six million doses in August.
China has also provided 1.8 million doses of the Vero Cell vaccine under grant assistance and pledged to provide an additional 1.6 million doses.
Nepal has so far received a total of 17,757,590 doses of vaccines.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population, some 55,07,380 people across Nepal have been fully vaccinated, as of Friday. Similarly, 60,83,124 have received their first dose of vaccine against Covid-19.
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