Nepal requests GAVI for 1.5 million booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine

Kathmandu / Jan 27: The Ministry of Health and Population sent a formal letter to GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) on January 12, asking the latter to provide 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for additional vaccinations after the spread of coronavirus infection in the neighboring countries China and India.

“As 1.5 million doses of vaccines would not be enough for the booster doses, we sent the letter to GAVI, requesting for another 1.5 million doses of the vaccines,” said Dr Sanjay Mahaseth of the vaccination section of the Department of Health services. It is said that GAVI will be providing the bivalent Pfizer vaccines to be administered as booster doses in Nepal through the COVAX Facility.

As requested in the letter, 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in Nepal by the first week of February, according to the officials of the Department.

Recently, after the infection of a new variant of the coronavirus called BF.7 started spreading in India and China, the health ministry has asked everyone to take the booster dose of the vaccine. But there is no attraction for booster dose vaccination either.

Mahaseth said that since there is a high demand for vaccines from the local and provincial levels to avoid the new variant of the coronavirus, the government has asked the donor agencies to provide them accordingly.

There is a provision to take an additional dose three months after taking the full doses of the vaccine against Covid-19. According to doctors, complications may appear due to the lack of antibodies in the body if the infection of Covid-19 is seen in those who did not take the extra dose. In Nepal, 27.31 percent of the total population i.e 7.9 million have been administered the booster dose of the vaccine.