Govt decides to administer China-donated COVID-19 vaccines starting April 7

Kathmandu / April 4: Government has decided to administer COVID-19 vaccines donated by China from April 7.

According to Dr Jageshwor Gautam, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), 800,000 doses of the Vero Cell– China-made vaccine against COVID-19 infection– will be administered to the front-line workers as well as those involved in cross-border trade activities in the mountainous region, Nepali students studying in China under scholarship schemes and those preparing to go to China for further studies.

“As many as 500,000 of the total 900,000 people targeted for vaccination have already received COVID-19 vaccines. These 800,000 doses of China-donated vaccines will be administered to the remaining 400,000 people of the targeted group,” he said.

Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, handed over COVID-19 vaccines to the Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi amidst a special function organized at TIA on March 29.

Nepal had granted a conditional emergency approval for use of Vero Cell, the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by China’s Beijing Institute of Biological Products earlier on February 18.